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CHILDHOOD, 

MAIDENHOOD, 

WIFEHOOD, 

MOTHERHOOD, 



L 



THE 



DAUGHTER 



HER HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WEDLOCK 



Homely Suggestions for Mothers and Daughters 



BY • 

WILLIAM M. CAPP, M.D. 









Philakkli'hia am> Loxuox 

F. A. DAVIS, PUBLISHER 
1891 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, by 

F. A. DAVIS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. D. C, U. S. A. 



Pliihidelpliia: 
The Mediial Bulletin Printing House, 

[■l:\l Filbert Street. 



\S^ 



.\,^^ 






PREFACE. 



In her new estate, a young wife found rea- 
sons to deplore the insufficiency of an educa- 
tion, which, though good so far as it went, was 
totally wanting upon subjects relating to present 
and prospective duties. It was now a part of 
her career, as mother, to guide her young 
daughter through the circle of infancy, girl- 
hood, wifehood, and maternity, — the four stages 
in the round of woman's life. In the absence 
of instructions, a duty so important was quite 
formidable. 

The following pages were written by espe- 
cial request, to give some information of which 
she felt the need. Suggestions upon subjects 

(V) 



VI PKEFACE. 

of general and obvious interest only were 
contemplated, which might be advantageously 
worked out in daily home-life. For the sake 
of brevity, disconnected paragraphs are used 
and long discussions are avoided. 

The aim is to enable the mother to second 
more intelligently the efforts of the medical 
adviser when he comes professionally into the 
family, and to offer some practical considerations 
affecting woman in her family relation. Siib- 
sequently, a request that the suggestions be 
printed led to this offer of them to the public, 
and it is hoped that they will be found of interest 
and value to a wider circle of readers. 



PHliiADELPHiA, Pa., November, 1890. 
No. 1715 Spruce Street. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface — These suggestions were requested because the ordi- 
nary education was not sufficiently practical, p. iii. 

Introdcctory — New requirements in woman's education — 
Her peculiar vocation and round of life, p. 3. 

TOPICS. 
The Infant — The centre of interest, 4. Training, 5. The 
mother's incidental training, 6. Preparations for its 
advent, 7. Its care at birth, 7. Its size and rate of 
growth, 9. Its bath, 11. Warmth, 13. Food, 14. 
Nursing, 23. Weaning, 80. Medicines, 31. Sleep, 33. 
Chafed skin, 35. Teething, 36. 

The Child — Its character influenced by early surroundings, 
39. Disposition dependent upon health, 41. Food, 42 
Air, 43. Training, 45. School-education, 48. Uncon 
scions imitation, 53. City and country rearing, 54 

The Girl — At the age of puberty, 55. Menstruation, 57-66 
Leucorrhcea, 66. Importance of her early training, 69 
Mother's duty to instruct her upon sexual matters, 70 
and in household affairs, 75. Co-education of the sexes, 
77. Consideration of marriage, 79-87. Betrothals, 88, 

(vii) 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

The Wipe — Fundamental ideas of marriage, 89. Sterile 
unions, 94. Maturity, 95. Indications of pregnancy, 
96. Duration of pregnancy, 97. Personal care during 
pregnancy, 98. End of pregnancy, 100. Interrupted 
pregnancy, 103. 

General Suggestions upon Health — Urinary disorders in 
the child, 106. Of the teeth, 109. The ears, 110. The 
eyes. 111. The hair, 113. Sore throats, 116. Sprains, 
117. Stings and burns, 118. The feet, 119. The skin, 
120. The kidneys, 121. The bowels, 124. Digestion, 
126. Cleanliness, 130. Bathing, 131. Catching-cold, 
133. Rest, 134. Use of stimulants, 134. Gymnastics, 
135 and 137. Rules for correct walking, 136. Sym- 
metrical development, 139. 

Reference Index, 141-144. 



THE DAUGHTER: 

Her Healtli, Education and Wedlock. 



Woman's multiplied employments call for 

new and special qualifications, which must make 
her equal or excel the workers w^hom she displaces. 
She has begun an advance, in occupying new 
posts of responsibility in the mercantile, social, 
professional, and religious world, which will not 
soon be checked or turned backward. All this 
calls for special studies with special objects in view, 
and introduces to the managers of seminaries and 
schools for girls considerations of new importance. 

But, in meeting the requirements of further 
subdivisions of labor introduced by a changing 
civilization, there is danger that fundamental 
principles and fixed laws of nature may be 
overlooked. Woman, simply because she is 
w^oman, has peculiar ofiices in nature's order, 
which outrank all artificial claims of every 
kind. Whatever her special training and chosen 
business employments may be, her naturally- 

' (1) 



Z THE DAUGHTEK. 

appointed vocations, which at any time she may 
be called upon to assume in some or all of their 
details, are those of wife, mother, and care-taker. 
They are, of all others, the most congenial to her 
tastes and most satisfying to her nature. The 
world over, the majority of women find their lot 
cast in the domestic sphere. Instruction, with 
special reference to its requirements, should be 
included in every scheme for her education, no 
matter what position in life she may occupy. Yet 
writers upon this subject do not agree when they 
define the studies which most merit attention 
during her training and best qualify for the 
responsibilities of after years. 

The ignorance concerning the simplest matters 
of personal and household hygiene and physi- 
ology, even among those who have enjoyed fair 
opportunities to obtain a good education, is often 
most surprising. There is also an apathy upon 
the subject which nothing startles but some 
sudden emergency or the occurrence of sickness, 
when there is little time to acquire the needed 
knowledge. With the subsidence of the occasion 
the apathy returns. The alarm at sickness and 



ESSENTIALS IN WOMAN'S EDUCATION. 3 

the minor physical ills of life more often comes 
from ignorance of the nature of the trouble than 
from the trouble itself. A mind fortified with 
knowledge in these directions masters the situa- 
tion, and is not overa^ved by it. 

In many schools topics so essential, and upon 
which she should have a ready knowledge re- 
lating to her own w^ell-being and that of others 
dependent upon her, are never touched upon. 
Explicit mstruction upon important personal in- 
terests is not given, and it frequently happens 
that young women marry and attain to the con- 
dition of maternity before giving serious thought 
to their surroundings and their inevitable re- 
sponsibilities. The advent of the child and its 
helpless dependency awaken a realization of the 
fact that, besides the usual school-studies, many 
others demand attention in order to meet the 
practical duties of life. The fragmentary sug- 
gestions now modestly offered are intended to 
help the mother to guide her daughter through 
the naturally-ordered round of woman's life, — 
her cliildliood^ maidenhood^ wifehood^ and mother- 
hood. But hints only are given rather than de- 



THE DAUGHTER. 



tailed discussions, and much is left to the good 
sense and interested mother-love of those to 
whom they are addressed. 



-The little stranger who has just been 



born is the greatest gift the mother can receive. 
Its coming starts new thoughts in her mind, and 
pictures the future with possibilities, hopes, and 
plans not entertained before, and life, now wear- 
ing a different aspect, broadens in every direction. 
The new relations are suggestive as they gradu- 
ally unfold. The centre of interest is transferred 
to that second self, in guiding which the mother 
may live over again her own childhood and youth. 
But what mother, as she holds her firstborn in her 
bosom, does not promise to herself that its child- 
hood shall be better and happier than was her 
own, — no matter what her own might have been 1 
Fortunate is the child whose mother has intelli- 
gence and perseverance to carry out the good 
resolution to its fullest import ; for in such ways 
are the true interests of the race secured, and 
the true advances in civilization and refinement 
accomplished. 



THE MOTHER'S TASK. 

The task of the mother is to tram a life 
which must have in turn its share of influence 
in shaping the progress of its day. The destiny 
for good or ill of some, prohably of many, will 
be determined by the kind of character into 
which the new life is developed and molded by 
her precept and example. Too often the novelty 
of the situation and personal inexperience sadly 
hamper the mother's efforts, and, if her own early 
training was incomplete, how shall she success- 
fully accomplish her duty '? Other claims are of 
lesser importance, and the demands of public in- 
terests, of society, or fashion, should be acceded 
to only as they do not obstruct the pursuit of the 
higher aim. There are no more compensating oc- 
cupations, nor soul-satisfying duties, nor further- 
reaching personal influences, than those which 
the opportunities of the devoted mother offer. 
The noble purpose, simple truth, self-mastery, and 
the cultivated intelligence are potent aids in cor- 
rect home training. Ideal aims, patience, and 
sympathetic interest, which she should bring to 
her aid, are forces which do not end with her life 
or with that of her child, but continue in widen- 



b THE DAUGHTER. 

ing circles of influence, and reach to many gen- 
erations yet to come. 

Concurrently with her child's training, the 
mother's character is developed. By studying the 
nature of the child she better understands her 
own. Breadth of mind, expansion of soul, and a 
beautiful personality may be wrought out which 
can be entirely missed in even the most favored 
social or intellectual circles of society. Not only 
are the interests of the child and her own bound 
up together, but issues of far wider importance 
are involved. None can foretell the story of the 
future, as her labors of love, intelligently put forth, 
shall bring it to pass. But a consideration of the 
needs of the body must, from the first, demand 
attention, and always go hand in hand with moral 
and intellectual training. Wise care will preserve 
health and vigor to the strong of body and do 
much to improve the condition of the weak, and 
life itself may be prolonged and guarded from the 
discomforts of sickness. The condition of the 
bodily health, be it good or bad, makes its impress 
upon the disposition just as, conversely, the state 
of the mind often influences the body. 



CAKE OF NEWBOKN INFANT. 7 

The first needs of the child are for its 

body. Being absolutely helpless, even its con- 
tinued existence depends upon the amount of 
proper care which it receives. Preparations in 
advance of its coming should not be neglected, 
and the usual supply of necessary comforts, such 
as soft and warm wraps, slips, napkins, and a 
suitable crib, as well as such articles as are use- 
ful in emergencies in the sick-room, may well 
occupy the expectant mother's thoughts and 
fingers. 

If the doctor has not arrived at the moment 
when the child is born into the world, the nurse 
must remember that the cord should be tied only 
after it has ceased to pulsate and has become flat 
and empty, which will occur in a minute or two. 
Tie it about three finger-widths from the child's 
body, and then again an inch or so further ofl", 
making tight knots which will not slip. Any 
kind of strong string will answer for the purpose. 
The cord is to be cut with a pair of scissors be- 
tween the two ligatures. See at once that the 
nose and mouth are free from everything which 
can obstruct the breathing, and the eyes should 



8 THE DAUGHTER. 

be gently washed with warm water. Envelop 
the child warmly in a soft, woolen wrap, allowing 
the air access to the face for free breathing, and 
lay it on its right side in some safe and warm 
place while attention is given to the mother. 

The cord is dressed by placing about the ab- 
domen of the child a bandage of flannel with a 
small hole in it, through which the stump is made 
to pass. It is thus prevented from coming into 
contact with the skin of the child's body, which 
is an important consideration. It must now be 
wrapped in a rag upon which has been freely 
sprinkled dry, powdered starch, or a mixture of 
dry, powdered starch 10 parts to 1 part of pow- 
dered subnitrate of bismuth, or to 1 part of 
powdered oxide of zinc. In dressing the stump 
of the cord, warmth and dryness are aimed at, 
and it should not be moistened with oil, ointments, 
or other wet applications. It usually separates in 
from five to seven days, — sometimes a little later. 
The band about the child's body must be loose 
enough to allow comfortable breathing. The 
lungs grow much during the first hours of life, 
and must have full and free play. The sighing 



WEIGHT, SIZE, AND GROWTH OF CHILD. 9 

and crying of the child at this time serve a good 
purpose in developing them. 



-The average weight of a child at birth 



is six or seven pounds ; the extremes are four 
pounds or even a little less up to eleven pounds. 
The sixteen-pound babies occur only in the large 
stories of those interested, but are not ordinarily 
met with. The length is about eighteen inches, 
and in vigorous children there is an increase in 
the first two years of twenty pounds in weight 
and ten inches in length; in the third year, of 
about four pounds and about four inches; and 
during the next six years the increase annually 
is about four pounds in weight and two or three 
inches in height. After the tenth year the weight 
increases annually seven or eight pounds. The 
child grows most rapidly during the first two 
months of life. Some diseases, especially those 
affecting the bones, materially retard growth. 

Even to the end of the third month, in hand- 
ling the child, care must be taken to support the 
head, which falls forward because the strength is 



10 THE DAUGHTEE. 

not sufficient to balance or hold it up with pre- 
cision. At about four months it may first attempt 
to sit up, but accomplishes the act much later, 
sitting firmly only at the tenth or eleventh month, 
and at this period the soles of the feet are still 
turned toward each other. Children begin to 
crawl at nine months, and soon after attempt to 
stand ; and walking by themselves will be accom- 
plished at fifteen or eighteen months. It is better 
not to hasten these eff'orts, but rather let them 
come spontaneously as strength and development 
may inclhie. The clothing should be so arranged 
as to allow entire freedom of motion. 

The young child must be allowed to lie upon 
its side on the bed, and not be held on the lap 
or in the arms, and when taken up or carried the 
greatest care must be observed to support the 
head and the back until the bones have become 
hard and the muscles strong. 

Baby's existence is but to eat and to sleep. 
It cries without tears until three or four months 
old. If healthy, while awake, it is always in mo- 
tion. Growth and development vary greatly, and 
are influenced by the constitution or inherited 



THE infant's bath. 11 

vigor, by the state of the nutrition, and by the 
particular surroundings of the individual. 



-Much harm is often done to the vouns: 



infant by injudicious washings. The child just 
born has come from a high and unvarying tem- 
perature, and it should be subjected to the lower 
and changing temperatures of its new surround- 
ings very gradually. Rarely, if ever, is a com- 
plete tub-bath necessary or desirable for infants 
in the early days of life. Often there are parts 
of the body which need a special cleansing ; 
but, generally speaking, the free splashing of 
water and soap and the incidental exposure of 
such operations are cruel, uncalled for, and disas- 
trous, inasmuch as they frequently lay the foun- 
dation for diseases which undermine the constitu- 
tion or early terminate life. If the child starts 
life with a cold, there need be no surprise at find- 
ing later tendencies to such diseases as catarrh, 
asthma, pleurisy, or bronchitis. 

An excellent way is, to cleanse the newborn 
child in spots, where necessary, wdth a piece of 



12 THE DAUGHTER. 

old, soft linen or a sponge, using warm water and 
a very minimum amount of soap, if any (it were 
better to use none) ; or, if tenacious material is to 
be removed, a little warm olive-oil on the sponge 
will answer better than the water. In general, 
if the material is not offensive in character, a 
delay of twenty- four hours is not objectionable, 
when its removal will be more easily and more 
safely effected by the means above indicated. It 
is quite probable that cleansing the skin by olive- 
oil, lard, or vaseline for the first few days, in pref- 
erence to the use of soap and water, would go 
far toward preventing the catarrhs so common 
among us. Wash the newborn baby only when 
needful; wash only the soiled spots, and wash 
them at once. This plan may be continued, es- 
pecially with the less vigorous infants, until the 
bath will not be too severe an ordeal. 

At once the eyes of the child should be gently 
washed free from any foreign particles with plain 
warm water. At all times when soap is employed 
in the bath, care must be taken to prevent its 
contact with the eyes, as it is apt to make them 
sore and cause pain. If the eyelids become 



NECESSITY OF WAEMTH. 13 

swollen and red, or if they run matter within 
two weeks after birth, prompt medical treatment 
must be given without a day's delay, as the con- 
dition, if neglected, often goes on to a chronic 
inflammation, ultimately destroying the sight. 
More especially is this the case if the mother had 
recently sufi"ered with such troubles as leucor- 
rhoea. Under such circumstances, the cloths or 
sponges used upon the eyes must at once be boiled 
or destroyed, and the nurse's hands must be care- 
fully cleansed, that other eyes shall not become 
infected. 



-The infant must be kept warm. Its own 



heat is usually sufficient, if retained by a plenti- 
ful wrapping of soft- wool material or raw cotton, 
preferably the former. The hands and feet, parts 
furthest from the heart, must also be covered and 
warm. If it looks blue and cold, place a bottle 
or two of hot water in its bed. If it is born into 
the world before the doctor arrives, and is a blue- 
faced baby, with absence of respiration, chafe it 
briskly with the hand, rub upon its breast a little 
spirits of camphor, or dash a little cold water on 



14 THE DAUGHTER. 

its chest, with a view to start breathing ; and, if 
these fail, put it at once into a bath of water as 
hot as one's bare elbow can stand without dis- 
comfort, applying a little cold water to its chest 
at the same time. Rub the spine gently also. 
Only the gentlest means should be used, but must 
be persevered in as long as there are any heart- 
pulsations, and even longer. Prompt action may 
induce normal breathing and save the life. Do 
not remit the efforts nor abandon hope too readily. 

Healthy infants often sigh, and it is good for 
the development of their lungs that they yawn 
and take deep breaths. 



The best food for the infant is that which 

nature provides in the breast of the mother, and 
nothing else will entirely take its place. It is a 
misfortune to the child to be deprived of it. When 
a substitute must be provided, however, art can 
do much, and children often are successfully raised 
upon artificial food. Still, statistics show a larger 
proportion of deaths among infants fed from the 
bottle than among those nursed at the breast. 



BOTTLE FEEDING. 15 

The feeding-bottle must be of such construc- 
tion that it can be readily and thoroughly cleansed, 
which should be done before each feeding. One 
has been made with two openings, so that a 
stream of water may be passed through it and a 
swab used to insure cleanliness. In using such a 
bottle, one opening is closed wdth a cork or rubber 
stopper, and the rubber nipple for the child's 
mouth is adjusted to the other opening. This 
nipple should be of pure soft rubber, and some- 
what resemble nature's model in the mother, in 
size and shape, and in the orifice from which the 
food is drawn. This is not a point of indifference, 
for many of those offered for sale are large and 
clumsy. They cause the child to gag, and inflict 
unnecessary inconvenience wtII calculated to in- 
duce cross and fretful protests from the innocent 
victim. 

Usually the best and most easily obtained sub- 
stitute for mothers' milk is the milk of a healthy 
cow. It must be fresh and sweet, but is not to be 
given in its pure state, because cows' milk, contain- 
ing more of the cheesy principle than human 
milk, will cause distress and sickness in the infant. 



16 THE DAUGHTER. 

When diluted, however, it will contain a less pro- 
portion of the fatty principle than human milk; 
hence, some cream must be added. Cows' milk 
also contains a less proportion of sugar than 
human milk; hence, sugar must be added. The 
sugar to be added is not the ordinary cane-sugar 
used in the family, but is known in the drug- 
stores as sugar of milk. 

The young infant's food, then, is best made of 
rich and fresh cows' milk, diluted one-half or 
more with lime-water and cream in equal parts, 
and with a few grains of sugar of milk and the 
same quantity of salt added; the whole to be 
warmed to the temperature of the body. 

It need not be inferred that the child will 
thrive on nothing other than the above ; but 
this, more nearly than any tiling else, resembles 
what it would receive if supplied as nature 
intended. 

It has been suggested, as anotner method, that 
a quantity of fresh, unskimmed cows' milk be 
allowed to stand for two or three hours in a tall 
and narrow vessel, after which the upper half 



FEEDING THE INFANT. 17 

containing the cream must be carefully removed 
and reserved for the day's supply for the baby. 
Have also prepared, in a stoppered bottle, an 
ounce of sugar of milk in J pint of pure water. 
Have also a stoppered bottle of lime-water. Now, 
for each feeding of the child prepare fresh each 
time a mixture by taking 3 parts of the milk 
reserved as directed above, 3 parts of the sugar- 
w^ater, 2 parts of the lime-water, and a pinch 
of salt, and put it warm into a clean nursing- 
bottle. Observe that the bottle, when given to 
the child, is to be so held that the food will be in 
the nipple, and can be sucked out. 



■A VERY young infant, deprived of mothers' 



milk, may be given a mixture containing 1 part 
of cows' milk and 3 parts of pure water, — 
preferably water which has been boiled and fil- 
tered, — to which should be added a teaspoonful 
of lime-water to every 4 tablespoonfuls of the 
mixture; to it also should be added a pinch of 
table-salt and twice as much sugar of milk. A 
little later in life, barley-water or rice-water, or, 
in case there be constipation, oat meal- water, may 



18 THE DAUGHTER. 

be given, with an equal part of milk, and the 
foregoing proportion of lime-water, if needed. 

The food for the young child which does not 
nurse at the breast must always be given warm, 
and from a nursing-bottle. The stomach of a 
child five days old will not hold more than about 
3 tablespoonfuls, and at three months old, and 
for several months subsequently, it will not hold 
more than twice that quantity. 

A tablespoonful is understood to equal as much 

as 4 teaspoonfuls ; and 2 tablespoonfuls equal 
an ounce of liquid ; and a wineglassful represents 
indefinitely any amount of liquid from 2 to 4 
tablespoonfuls. 

Barley-water is made by boiling barley 



in water, and then straining out all the grains. 
It may be flavored to the taste. Rice-water and 
oatmeal-water are made in similar manner. The 
water when ready for use should not be thick and 
gummy, but about the consistency of rich milk. 
The proportions are 2 tablespoonfuls of grain to a 
pint of water. 



LIME-WATER. 19 

LiME-TFATEU sliould be made by putting 

a piece of unslaked lime of the size of a lien's 
egg- into 1^ gallon or more of water. After the 
lime is broken down the mixture is to be well 
stirred several times, at intervals, and then allowed 
to settle for about twelve hours, when the clear 
water is to be decanted and thrown away. Now 
add to the lime which is settled at the bottom as 
much pure water as before. Water which has 
been boiled but allowed to become cold suits 
best. After it has been well stirred it should 
be put at once into a bottle and stoppered. In 
a few hours the lime will settle at the bottom, 
and the clear water will be ready for use. When 
required, the water may be drawn off with a 
siphon, or with care may be poured off clear 
without mixing again with the lime at the bottom. 
From time to time water may be added and the 
bottle shaken to renew the supply. It will be 
ready for use as soon as the water is clear. 
Besides being useful for the baby's food, as indi- 
cated elsewhere, it may be employed in dyspepsia 
with acidity of the stomach ; and in nausea and 
vomiting from an irritable stomach, it corrects 



20 THE DATJGHTEK. 

the distress if taken with an equal quantity of 
milk in small wineglassful doses at intervals of 
about a half-hour. Externally, it is useful to 
bathe foul sores, and, mixed with an equal quan- 
tity of linseed-oil, is an excellent application to a 
scald or burn. 



-The great importance of keeping the 



milk for infants and invalids in good condition 
until required for use should not be overlooked, 
especially as it quickly undergoes changes which 
render it unsuited to the delicate stomach. It 
will also, if exposed, absorb from the atmosphere 
deleterious matter ; hence, it should be handled 
in scrupulously clean and closed vessels and be 
disturbed as little as possible. It is found, by 
experience in the household and hospital, that 
it is best preserved in wholesome condition if put, 
as soon as received, into clean glass bottles. 
These are to be temporarily stoppered with light 
plugs of clean, raw cotton, and immersed almost 
to their mouths in hot water, in a vessel over the 
fire, until the milk becomes warm. The water 
in the vessel (not the milk) is then quickly 



TO KEEP MILK FRESH. 21 

brought, almost or quite, to a boil for two 
minutes, when the bottles must be corked tightly 
and kept in a cool place until required for use. 
This plan is a useful device by w^hich the milk 
may be kept in acceptable condition for forty- 
eight hours or longer, and is especially convenient 
during warm weather and in traveling. An 
apparatus for treating milk in this way, called a 
milk-sterilizer, consisting of bottles and a boiler, 
is to be found for sale in the shops. But a very 
little ingenuity will adapt the ordinary utensils 
of the kitchen to the purpose. 

There is no advantage in having the milk for 
the child brought always from the same cow, but 
it is extremely important that the cow which 
supplies the milk should be a healthy animal, 
and be fed on wholesome food; also, that the 
milk shall be fresh and protected from exposure, 
in closed and clean vessels, at all stages of its 
handling until it is used. The preserved milk 
and the patented and other artificially-prepared 
foods for young infants can never adequately 
take the place of mothers' milk when that is 
available, and even the best of them must rank 



22 THE DAUGHTEE. 

only after fresh cows' milk with the qualiiications 
akeadv mentioned. 



•After the motlier has been made com- 



fortable and the newborn child is dressed, and 
both have had some hours of rest and sleep, it is 
advisable to apply tlie child to the breast to re- 
ceive, by this first effort, the small quantity of 
milk, which is a special provision of a peculiar 
kind, to act as a natural purge and start the 
bowels of the chiki into a healthy activity. Its 
education now begins, and it must be encouraged 
to suck. This operation will also have a happy 
effect upon the motlier by exciting the milk- 
glands to secrete, and will benefit her otherwise. 
The child is not in need of food for at least 
twenty-four hours, and uothiug Avhatever should 
be given it, unless it be a small spoonful of water 
soon after birth to wash and moisten its throat. 
This is a fact seemingly beyond the comprehen- 
sion of the average nurse, who surreptitiously, if 
not otherwise, persists in administering at once 
sugar-water, cracker-tea, or peppermint-water, or 
some narcotic or soothing mixtures, all of which 



THE CHILD TO THE BKEAST. 23 

are abominations to be avoided as almost certain 
to cause colic or other troubles to the child. 

Both mother and child need sleep, and the 
sick-room should be guarded from visitors so that 
quiet may be maintained. As they awake, at 
intervals of several hours, the child may again be 
applied to the breast, for the reasons already given. 

The mother's milk in full supply may be 
expected in from about forty to sixty hours after 
delivery. The child will manifest a desire for 
the breast, to which it must be applied not 
oftener than every two hours, and about twice 
during the night. A healthy infant is hungry 
all the time, but regularity in feeding, and an 
observance of the intervals indicated, are im- 
portant in order to avoid many of the ailments 
of infancy which arise from overfeeding. The 
same rules apply to bottle-fed children, and are 
to be observed until the child is weaned. 

The infant's stomach will not hold much. 
Do not offer more than about 2 ounces (that is, 
4 tablespoon fuls) at a time, ratlier less than more 
than that. If too much is given, the overdis- 



24 THE DAUGHTER. 

tended stomach will reject it. A little less will 
be digested and assimilated. 

The glands which secrete the saliva do not 
develop until the third or fourth month; hence, 
all young children may need water occasionally 
to moisten the mouth, but a few drops at a time 
is enough, — placed on the tongue with a spoon. 
Often a very fretful child is quieted at once, if 
given a little cool water. 



The maternal supply of milk will proba- 
bly continue for about ten months, though toward 
the last not in as full supply as earlier, and during 
this time it should be the sole food of the child 
if sufficient in quantity and quality. This point 
is best determined by the appearance of the 
child, whose condition will indicate whether it 
thrives or not. 

During nursing the mother should have re- 
gard for her own diet, as unusual articles of food 
which derange her own digestion will, through the 
milk, unfavorably affect that of the infant. She 
must keep her bodily functions in healthy action. 



MATERNAL SUPPLY OF MILK. 25 

If the nursing mother has not a suffi- 
cient supply of milk to satisfy the child, it is un- 
wise to resort to drugs or medication to increase 
it. Let her see rather that she lives under such 
conditions as conduce to her own best health, 
and uses largely a liquid diet. She may add milk, 
ale, beer, soups, cocoa, or chocolate to her daily 
diet. Beets, boiled and eaten without vinegar, 
have a reputation for increasing the flow of 
milk in nursing women. If efforts of this kind 
fail, the child must have a supplementary supply 
of food prepared chiefly from milk, as indicated 
in a general way on pages 14 to 21. 

If her flow of milk is too abundant she must 
diminish the quantity of liquid taken, and rather 
avoid or take, in smaller portions, the drinks 
above mentioned ; also, let her make use of an 
occasional laxative. In this condition a saline is 
preferable, such as from 1 to 4 teaspoonfuls of 
Epsom or Eochelle salt in a glass of hot water 
on rising in the morning, and a half-hour or 
longer before breakfasting. If artificial food is 
needed to supplement the mother's supply, it 
should be given at the regular times of nursing, 



26 THE DAUGHTER. 

immediately after the supply furnislied by the 
breast. Or, it is often more convenient, if the 
mother's supply is insufficient, to allow the milk to 
accumulate in the breast during the day and to put 
the child to the breast at bed-time and at early 
morning only, and to feed from the bottle during 
the day-time. Sometimes the maternal supply is 
abundant enough, but in quality lacks the elements 
which nourish the child, in which case artificial 
food must be added to the child's diet. 



-Milk is the simplest and, indeed, the 



only food which the infant can readily assimilate. 
This appears plain when it is remembered that 
the organs necessary for the complicated function 
of digestion are not fully developed in the early 
months of life, nor until after the first teeth have 
come in their proper time. Hence, anything but 
the simplest diet put into the young child's 
stomach will not assimilate as food, but causes 
distress and may do much harm. As a rule, the 
most robust and best-developed children are those 
which are fed exclusively on breast-milk for the 
first nine or ten months of their lives. 



WET-NUESES. 27 

It is a privilege for a mother to nurse 

her own child, and the ability to do so is often 
an indication of robust health. It is sur})rising 
that any ever seek to avoid the pleasing duty. 
The child thrives best when nourished in the 
normal manner, and the mother's life is en- 
riched by the tenderest sentiments awakened by 
the care of the helpless little dependent. There 
is no brighter crown of glory upon earth than 
the maternal devotion, and it is beautifully exem- 
plified as her babe is tenderly nurtured at the 
breast. 

A very large proportion of women, from an 
absence of milk, are not able, however, to nurse 
their first child. This is owing, to some extent, 
to the depressing effects upon health of the in- 
door and artificial modes of life in cities. In 
such cases, if it is decided to employ a wet-nurse, 
the utmost care in her selection should be used, 
as taints of disease may be transmitted to the 
child, or vicious habits may unfavorably infiuence 
it. Before such a nurse is employed she should 
have a recommendation from a thoroughly com- 
petent physician, given only after a very careful 



28 THE DAUGHTER. 

investigation of her physical health. E-ather than 
have a doubt upon this matter, it is safer to 
rear the child with judicious artificial feeding, 
particularly if it is not puny and dehcate. 



-If the nipple is retracted or under-devel- 



oped, it should be gently drawn out a few times 
each day for some weeks before the birth of the 
child. Ordinarily it needs nothing to prepare it 
for nursing. Much bad advice is often given, 
such as to harden it by applications of alcoholic 
solutions, alum-water, and the like. As the skin 
should be soft and pliable, and not hard, such 
applications are harmful. If it is oversensitive 
and any treatment is needed, an occasional appli- 
cation of cocoa-butter or vaseline and frequent 
cold bathing of the part are much to be preferred. 

The nipples should be bathed with simple 
water, both before and after each application of 
the child to the breast. If they become sore from 
nursing, the treatment indicated above is best; 
or, after washing, an application of borax-water 
may be allowed to dry upon them. If they be- 



CARE OF THE NIPPLES. 29 

come cracked or fissured after gentle cleansing 
with borax-water, paint them with the Com- 
pound Tincture of Benzoin by means of a camel's 
hair pencil, to protect the raw surfaces and to 
stimulate healing. In bad cases a shield and arti- 
ficial nipple may be used as a temporary ex- 
pedient whilst nursing. Articles of this kind of 
different patterns will be found in the shops. 

If the mother allows herself to fall asleep with 
the child in her arms, there is danger of injury 
to the child from falling ; and the child should 
not be allowed to sleep with the nipple in its 
mouth, as this objectionable practice is a com- 
mon cause of sore nipples. The breast should 
never be given to the child simply to divert or to 
quiet it, but should be accessible only when the 
child is to be fed, and the feeding operation, prop- 
erly performed, will engage the whole attention 
of both mother and child. When hunger is 
satisfied the child should be removed, and will 
usually be ready for a quiet nap. If such a 
course is pursued there will be little or no diffi- 
culty in accomplishing at the proper time the 
weaning of the child from the breast. 



30 THE DAUGHTER. 



-Weaning should commence not later than 



about the ninth or tenth month, and be completed 
withm a year from bh'th, and the change of diet 
should be effected gradually. A diminution of 
the mother's supply, or a failure of the child 
to thrive, may earlier make it necessary. At first 
the artificial food may be given in place of the 
breast-milk onh^ occasionally, or may supple- 
ment it, if the child's appetite calls for more, and 
then more frequently until the breast is given 
only at night, and finally not at all. A favorable 
opportunity to begin to wean should be selected 
when the child is not ailing, and if sickness 
intervenes a return to breast-feeding is advisable. 

Probably no one kind of prepared food will 
suit all infants, but in the general directions 
given elsewhere in this book will be found useful 
suggestions suiting many cases. After the end 
of the first year, if the child is of average health 
and development, there must be gradually intro- 
duced a more solid and varied diet, such as 
bread and gravy (from the dish); baked potatoes 
smoothly mashed, with a little meat-gravy or a 
little butter mixed with it; soft-boiled eggs; 



MEDICINES. 31 

flour or rice pap well boiled, and, later, finely- 
minced meat, — beef, or mutton, or poultry, — 
in small quantities. Milk should still be the 
chief drink, though water is always allowable; 
but tea and coffee liad better in all cases be with- 
held from children. 



-Medicines, like crutches, sliould be used 



only as temporary expedients to help in certain 
difficulties. It is foolish to use them when not 
needed, but, above all, let them be given to the 
baby in least amount, as seldom as possible, and 
only when required. It is far safer to take the 
advice of an intelligent medical practitioner be- 
fore dosing, yet there are disturbances in digestion 
when half a teaspoonful or less of castor-oil, 
mixed with as much olive-oil, for a child a few 
weeks or months old, will be a benefit, and it may 
be repeated every hour if the bowels do not move 
meanwhile. 

In small doses castor-oil will not injure, and 
is probably the safest and most reliable purgative 
medicine for children ; besides, it is one to which 



32 THE DAUGHTER. 

they usually do not object if they have not been 
prejudiced against it by injudicious remarks. 
The repeated small doses usually suit the stomach 
better than one larger dose, and they can be dis- 
continued when the desired effect is obtained. 
With both children and adults a dose of castor- 
oil is quite disguised if given heated in four or 
five times as much milk and flavored with a little 
sugar or nutmeg, or a drop of oil of cloves or 
of oil of peppermint. 

Constipation and inaction of the bowels in 
an infant may sometimes be overcome by insert- 
ing into the bowel a small, slender splinter of 
white castile-soap, softened in water so that it 
has no sharp edges to injure the delicate mem- 
'brane ; or a teaspoonful of glycerin may be 
injected into the bowel from a small syringe, 
carefully avoiding the introduction of air. 

Vomiting will often be relieved if all food is 
withheld from the child for a few hours, thus 
giving the stomach rest ; also a few drops of lime- 
water in a half-teaspoonful of water or milk may 
be given occasionally. But beyond such most 
simple remedies, unless the mother have certain 



KOCKING THE BABY. 33 

knowledge upon the subject, she had better, for 
the child's good and for her own peace of mmd, 
seek rehable medical advice. 



-The mother who walks the room with 



the infant or rocks it in a cradle to quiet it in- 
flicts a great amount of unnecessary trouble upon 
herself and does the baby no good. It may not, 
at other times, suit her to walk the room or rock 
the cradle; but the little one, having been taught 
to be quiet in that way, imperiously refuses to be 
quieted in any other. Can anything show more 
plainly how easily habits are given to children, 
and how speedily those habits rule and tyrannize ] 
So far as health is concerned, not one word can 
be said in favor of rocking a child in a cradle, or 
carrying it in incessant marches around the room. 
When one considers that older persons become 
seasick on far less provocation, if exposed to the 
swaying and jarring of rail or ship travel, the 
doubt must arise whether the baby is quieted by 
gratification or is overcome by vertigo and tem- 
porary nerve exhaustion. It certainly is good for 
baby to receive the caresses and fondlings which 



34 THE DAUGHTEK. 

mother-instinct prompts, and the mother, too, is 
refreshed by them ; but they are more in order 
when the child is wide awake, fed, cheerful, and 
in the mood for a little romp. No tumult or 
noise is desirable when sleep is sought. The 
witchery of silence and of gentle brooding best 
brings the soothing balm. 

Healthy infants pass most of their time in 
sleep, and it ordinarily comes with but little 
wooing. Let the mother see that its clothing is 
smoothly arranged, free from disturbing folds and 
knotty masses, and with no pins to pierce the 
tender flesh, its person clean, and everything 
made comfortable about it. Then, with quiet air 
and manner and soothing voice, the little one 
may be taught the habit of gently sinking into 
calm and refreshing sleep, such as is not to be 
gained by any manner of agitation in a rocker or 
otherwise. 

The baby may often be restless from sleeping 
for several hours in one position, and if that is 
changed its sleep will be prolonged without wak- 
ing. Hunger may at times be expressed by cry- 
ing and sleeplessness. It should never sleep in 



CHAFED SKIN. 35 

the same bed with the mother or with any one 
else, but in a crib by the bedside, within arm's 
reach, and be covered with soft- wool bed-clothing, 
of which it will not require as much over it as an 
adult. If too warmly covered, it will be restless 
and kick the covers off; but if just right, it will 
be apt to sleep quietly. 



-If the baby's skin is chafed or irritated, 



bathe it with cool bran-water. This is made by 
scalding a handful or more of bran in a quart of 
hot water, which, after cooling, should be strained 
before use. Or, water containing a teaspoonfnl 
of borax to, a quart or two will be soothing. 
If particular parts of the body become sore from 
discharges or perspiration, they may be. gently 
cleansed with plain water or with bran-water, 
and, after being dried with a soft towel (by sop- 
ping rather than by rubbing), should be dusted 
from a puff-ball or a powder-bag (made of thin, 
old flannel) containing finely-powdered starch; 
or, there may be applied a little ointment, made 
of 1 part of oxide-of-zinc ointment to 8 parts of 
lard (without salt), or to 8 parts of vaseline. 



36 THE DAUGHTEK. 

It is better not to use soap on the young 
baby's skin ; but, if necessary for the cleansing 
of especially soiled places, use a pure and mild 
white castile or olive-oil soap, unscented and 
uncolored. These remarks, however, are not 
intended to indicate an aversion to the use of 
soap, but rather to inculcate a regard for the 
baby's delicate skin. When the child has passed 
beyond the time of young babyhood, soap w^ill be 
a good friend. 

At about the seventh month after birth 



the child will probably have the first teeth. The 
time varies greatly in individuals. In delicate 
children they come later, and occasionally a 
child is born with a tooth already through the 
gum. As a rule, the lower front teeth appear 
first, coming in pairs, one tooth on each side of 
the mouth, followed about a month later by the 
corresponding pair upon the upper jaw. At 
about twelve months there will be eight teeth 
and at two years sixteen. Preceding their ap- 
pearance the gums become swollen, hot, and 
painful, and the saliva, forming in excess, runs 



TEETHING. 37 

from the mouth. The child is irritable, flushed, 
and restless, and there usually occurs some dis- 
turbance of the bowels, commonly diarrhoea. 
There may also appear a rash over the body. 
This all indicates a nervous derangement, and 
calls for judicious diet and general careful man- 
agement, besides extra patience, on the part of 
the mother. The symptoms subside when the 
teeth come through. 

During teething the child manifests a desire 
to bite on something, and a soft-rubber ring will 
give it great comfort ; also, the nurse may gently 
rub the gums with a finger or a small piece of 
ice wrapped in the corner of a handkerchief 
If it is necessary, in rare cases, to lance the 
gums, it should be done by a medical man 
only, and in such manner as not to injure the 
tooth beneath. The irritable condition of the 
child at this time is relieved very much by such 
attention to the bowels as insures their free dis- 
charge daily. There may be needed a small dose 
or two of castor-oil, or of castor-oil and olive-oil 
in equal parts, — say, a teaspoonful, — which may 
be repeated in an hour, if needed ; or, equal 



38 THE DAUGHTEE. 

parts of castor-oil and spiced syrup of rhubarb, 
shaken together, a teaspoonful, to be repeated 
every hour, if needed to accompHsh the desired 
effect. This treatment is also to be given if 
there is green diarrhoea or griping pains or 
offensive stools. Astringent medicines are to be 
avoided at this time. 

If the excitement of the nervous system is so 
great as to cause convulsions, the most benefit is 
to be gained by putting the child at once into a 
warm bath, making, at the same time, applica- 
tions of cold water to the head. This may be 
followed by a gentle laxative, as indicated 
above. 

The permanent teeth begin to appear about 
the sixth or seventh year, the first molar, or grind- 
ing, teeth at the sides, known as the six-year 
molars, coming through first, followed, a year or 
so later, by the front cutting teeth. The last, or 
wisdom teeth, furthest back in the mouth, come 
about the seventeenth or twentieth year. 



INFLUENCE UPON CHARACTER. 39 

Physical peculiarities are naturally in- 
herited from both parents, but the disposition and 
character arc largely the result of surrounding 
influences upon the expanding intelligence of 
the mfant, and chiefly, if not entirely, of contact 
with the mother, or of such as take her place. 
They are developments which are governed from 
without. Manners, in the first instance, are 
imitations; later they may be the spontaneous 
expressions of what goes on within, or studied 
screens against too close inspection. A rather 
cynical writer has told us that character is made up 
of nine-tenths manners and one-tenth morality. 
But, aside from this view, who can estimate the 
effect of the look, the tone of voice, the honest, 
gentle, and truthful manner of a mother; or who 
comprehends the possibilities and far-reaching 
influence of her example, be it for good or ill, 
be it judiciously or mistakenly planned? The 
future of civilization, the continuance of morality, 
and the perpetuity of religious sentiment depend 
upon her teaching aright and successfully training 
the coming generation in its early infancy. In our 
social arrangements the mother trains the child, 



40 THE DAUGHTER. 

and to that end her best efforts are worthily 
put forth. Her influence is never negative, be- 
cause the child is always imitative. All it has, in 
after years, comes from copying, in some sense, 
from those about it. Hence, what is said upon 
this subject is not conventional sentiment so much 
as it is sound philosophy, based upon physiology 
and the laws of development. More is probably 
acquired in the first four years than in all the rest 
of life, and probably more depends upon what is 
acquired then than subsequently. During that 
time the very substratum of character is laid, the 
disposition is set, docility or pugnacious oppo- 
sition is awakened, and amiabihty or contrari- 
ness is called into active exercise. Upon this 
foundation the superstructure subsequently grows 
with a natural development, influenced only in 
part by external surroundings. 

About taking care of the baby there is 



no mystery beyond the comprehension of ordinary 
intelligence, if it be guided by good sense and 
natural afiection. The little being, so frail and 
delicate, is human and has wants in many re- 



THE CAKE OF THE BABY. 41 

spects similar to our own. Loving, motherly in- 
stinct, coupled with intelligent watchfulness, will 
learn to anticipate its necessities. Of course, the 
mother will avail herself of good advice and sug- 
gestions from others who are mothers, with ex- 
perience in the care of children. But she will do 
well to avoid the officious, both young and old, 
who perpetuate ignorant and superstitious tra- 
ditions of the nursery. 

Let it be remembered that cheerfulness and 
good nature on the part of the little one are 
dependent upon its general good health and 
condition, and to secure these must be the con- 
stant concern of the mother, who, in thus seek- 
ing the welfare of the child, lightens her own 
labors and makes life more sunshiny. Many 
mothers are able to preserve a serene temper 
and a patience almost superhuman in managing 
a sick and fretful baby ; nevertheless, their lot is 
happier when baby crows with a delighted sense 
of well-being, or slumbers in the placid manner 
indicative of sound health. 



42 THE DAUGHTER. 

Food and air are essential elements in 

the child's growth, and it should have them, in 
good quantity and quality. The food should be 
of simple, wholesome kind, quite digestible, and 
well prepared. That for very young infants has 
been spoken of elsewhere. Milk is a good type 
of food, and suits almost everybody. It is both 
food and drink. It is invaluable to children, to 
invalids, and to the delicate generally. There are 
very few stomachs with which fresh cows' milk 
will not agree, and it is curative in some diseases. 
In particular cases it may require preparation, as 
by dilution with water, or with lime-water, as will 
be learned by experience, or may be pointed out 
by the family physician. In all families where 
there are young people a full share of the market- 
money should go for milk, as it is the best and, 
hence, often the cheapest kind of food, both in 
its natural state and in many forms of prepara- 
tion into healthful and attractive dishes for the 
table. Eggs, also, are a good food, and easily 
digested, if only they be fresh and not boiled to 
the pohit of hardness. For most stomachs they 
will be more digestible if scalded for two or three 



AIR. 43 

minutes in boiling water, — only until the white 
is clouded, — rather than made solid. A raw egg 
in a glass of milk, with a little salt, or sugar, as 
preferred, affords a palatable and concentrated 
form of nourishment in sickness or health. 



-The air, like everything else about the 



children, should be pure, sweet, and clean. It is 
the essential requirement of every moment of 
life, and is bountifully supplied. It may be had 
in good condition to breathe if but our sur- 
roundings are such that it is not polluted by 
contact with filth, or rendered stagnant from 
want of free circulation and sunlight. Baby's 
apartment should be kept clean and wholesome. 
Dirt and dust, and everything which can render 
the air impure, must be removed at once. 

The air is sometimes vitiated for children's 
use in unsuspected ways. Their nervous sus- 
ceptibilities are greater than those of older per- 
sons. A very little tobacco-smoke may cause all 
the nausea and discomfort to an infant in arms 
that his first segar did to the smoke-dried veteran, 



44 THE DAUGHTER. 

but the little one cannot so well describe the 
sensations. 

Injudicious mothers, sometimes, with well- 
meaning but mistaken kindness, cause their little 
ones to live in an atmosphere of perfume. They 
themselves are redolent with fragrant and heavy 
odors, and the child's clothes and all its surround- 
ings are scented. Many such a child may never 
have drawn a breath of sweet, pure, and uncon- 
taminated air. All scents and perfumes affect 
the nervous system, and by constant excitation 
do it damage, and the much more delicate organi- 
zation of the child may be injuriously affected 
where the adult would be unharmed. The 
bouquet of flowers, which by its fragrance de- 
lights the senses at first, afterward renders the 
air of a closed room heavy and oppressive even 
to grown persons. The more sensitive child 
must feel the effect in greater degree, and, not 
knowing the cause of the discomfort, nor being 
able to tell its troubles, breaks out in loud pro- 
tests or spells of fretfulness. As a result of 
disordered nerves, the child is cross, peevish, 
excited, and restless. For similar reasons musty, 



HABITS. 45 

close, and imventilated apartments do not favor 
health, but have a depressing effect upon every 
one, and especially upon the growing child, who 
cannot grow into a healthy vigor of body without 
fresh, pure air and sunshine, which are as essential 
as food and drink. 



-The child surely inherits its physical life 



from its parents (that we all know) just as the 
oak comes from the acom, which came from its 
parent-oak. Like produces like ; but who shall say 
just how much character, or mannerism, or good 
or bad temper, or individuality, aside from the 
physical, comes by inheritance 1 What does baby 
know at the start 1 He is nothing but a body with 
life in it. But according as that life is trained 
will noble or base forces be set in motion ; for the 
future takes shape at the power of his approach. 
Through neglected early training he may easily 
miss the possibilities of his future career. 

The character and the disposition are de- 
veloped by stimulation from without. Baby is 
strongly imitative. His motions, gestures, looks, 



46 THE DAUGHTEE. 

tones of voice, temper, and habits of mind and 
body are insensibly copied from examples about 
him. A hasty-tempered or impatient care-taker 
will infallibly develop similar manners ; arts of 
deceit will teach cunning and duplicity ; false- 
hoods told to frighten or amuse will engender 
untruthfulness in the child. Quiet tones, cheerful 
manners, and loving and truthful ways also in- 
stigate his imitative faculty ; though, unfortunately 
for human nature, in infancy, just as in later life, 
the imitation of the bad is easier than the imi- 
tation of the good. 



-Fretting and worrying do not benefit 



any one. An impatient manner keeps one's soul 
constantly on the grill, and chafes the spirits of 
those who are afflicted by its rasping. Worrying 
is a waste of nervous energy, and, when added to 
the wearing drive and unrest of modern life, 
helps to exhaust the reserve and hastens bank- 
ruptcy in that direction. Impatience is lack of 
personal control, and squanders mental force, 
which, if husbanded, would contribute to such 
resources as give strength and balance to char- 



SELF-ESTEEM. 47 

acter. A cool and balanced mind, because of 
the habit of self-control, is doubly effective in its 
power over others, and develops new energies in 
itself. 



-Egotism and undue self-esteem are to be 



repressed in the young as encouraging an exag- 
gerated idea of their own personal importance ; 
nevertheless, there is a certain self-esteem which 
should be inculcated, and which leads one to be 
above doing mean acts, and instigates to the at- 
tainment of noble ideals. Many of the rules for 
good manners are based as much upon the re- 
spect owing to one's self as upon what is due 
to others. The sacred writer tells people to think 
highly of themselves, but not more highly than 
they ought to think. It requires a nice discrimi- 
nation to make the personal adjustment with 
satisfying accuracy. 



-The care of children by their parents is 



like the polishing of marble, one piece against 
the other. If the duty is properly performed it 



48 THE DAUGHTER. 

is a mutual education, in which both parties grow 
wiser and develop a symmetry of character not 
otherwise attainable. It must be so, otherwise 
children would be born into the world as able 
and as wise as their parents. The elevation of 
the race will be accomplished when each genera- 
tion is a moral and physical improvement upon 
its predecessor. This is more likely to result if 
marriages of the vigorous in body are arranged 
between those on the same planes of advance- 
ment in social, intellectual, and moral training. 
Misalliances in these respects lead to retrogres- 
sion to or below the level of the lower of the two, 
as descent is only too easy, whilst to rise requires 
sustained and well-directed efforts to that end. 
It is a noble impulse in the parents to desire for 
the child better advantages than they themselves 
had. 

It is not well to send the child to school 



at too early an age. Conditions in after life will 
be better if the early years are exclusively occu- 
pied in building up the physical system into 
robust health. At this time the best interests are 



AT SCHOOL. 49 

subserved by a life out-of-doors, immersed in fresh 
air and sunshine and passed in unrestrained ac- 
tivity and rugged sports. If, in addition, there 
is formed a habit of interested observation, espe- 
cially of natural objects, an excellent ground- 
work for future mental training will be pleasantly 
laid. The kindergarten system for children be- 
low the school age is good in many of its features, 
if properly conducted; but, too often, it has 
nothing about it characteristic of a garden, and 
merely serves to amuse the children, while con- 
fining them to a room. One great drawback to 
city life is that, in general, it is so unfavorable 
to the best physical training and development 
of the child. 

No attempt need be made to teach the letters 
of the alphabet until the child is about nine 
years of age, by which time the mind, expanded 
by use, has ability to comprehend and remember 
the lessons with less effort, so that progress is 
rapid and the labor of teaching much diminished. 
It is a fact repeatedly demonstrated, that children 
then first taught their letters, under experienced 
teachers, at twelve years rank the same as others 



50 THE DAUGHTEE. 

of the same age who began attendmg school at 
the age of six. Usually, too, they are more vig- 
orous and more apt at learning from having been 
free from the confinement of body and strain of 
mind incidental to school-life. 

Large classes in schools do not produce the 
best results to the scholars ; at least, not until 
the later years of the school-course. There are 
far greater differences in ability to grasp a sub- 
ject and to take in the instructions, in a group 
of children at ten or twelve years of age, than 
there will be four or five years later, and after a 
longer school-discipline. The less-advanced chil- 
dren and those of duller intellection need more 
attention from the teacher than the requirements 
of a large class will permit, and there necessarily 
results an imperfect understanding of the subjects. 
This greatly increases the labor and abolishes the 
attractions and pleasures of school-life. 

One fails to see why the girl should not have 
the same elementary school-education as the boy, 
and why the same standard of proficiency should 
not apply to both, if a higher general education, 
looking to a social companionship upon more 



BOYS AND GIRLS. 51 

equal terms, is ever to be attained. Yet it cannot 
be denied that the prevaihng sentiment favors 
more superficial attainments for the girl than for 
the boy, and too often the merely ornamental 
studies are allowed to crowd out the useful, and 
an absence of thoroughness is not seriously ob- 
jected to. It is a matter for congratulation that 
much improvement has lately taken place in the 
appliances and modes of teaching in schools of 
the better class. Alternating gymnastic exercises 
and lessons, shortening the hours of confinement, 
varying the studies, and substituting more direct 
teaching for mere recitations, are all useful 
means of smoothing the rough and thorny path- 
way to knowledge. 



-Until after their twelfth or fourteenth 



year there are no difierent requirements of health 
as regards the management of boys and girls 
who have been well brought up. This is a gen- 
eral rule, and no one quicker than the observing 
mother will detect the exceptions to it. At 
about this age the changes of puberty begin. 



52 THE DAUGHTER. 

Heretofore their association as close companions 
has safely been encouraged, but now, although 
companionship is still desirable, it must be sub- 
ject to the barriers of safety between the sexes 
which wise parents properly establish, though 
they do not obtrusively call the attention of the 
young to the subject. 

Too often the spirit of a girl is repressed 
and the foundation of future inefficiency is laid 
by words and manners which convey distinctly 
that little is expected of her besides being a pretty 
darling, and that she may have everything done 
for her rather than be required to do for herself. 
In this way vanity, indolence, and inefficiency are 
unwittingly developed from infancy by the mis- 
judged kindness and devotion of her best friends. 
On the other hand, the boy is taught to be manly, 
to do noble and self-sacrificing little deeds, and is 
reared to the idea that he must aspire to be a 
self-reliant man. We shall have reached a most 
unfortunate condition socially when it is consid- 
ered unnecessary or undesirable for women to be 
less noble, less efficient, and less self-reliant than 
men. The girls now under training, when they 



HOME ATMOSPHERE. 53 

are the mothers of the commg generation, will 
need the high ideals and careful self-discipline 
which best qualifies for their real work in life. 

By proper and unrestrained association of the 
children of different sexes in the family during 
childhood, the girls imbibe broader ideas and 
greater self-helpfulness, while the rougher man- 
ners of the boys are toned down, and a considera- 
tion for others developed which will adorn and 
ennoble their future career. 



-Of first importance to the child is a 



sound and healthy body. The surroundings of 
home should conduce to that end, and its arrange- 
ments should be such as to bring naturally about 
that training of heart and disposition which ought 
to go hand in hand with bodily growth. The 
moral atmosphere should be that of honesty and 
cheerfulness, and give an elevating tone to the 
thoughts and habits. Children momentarily re- 
ceive impressions and silently form those habits of 
doing and ways of thinking which, ultimately, to- 
gether make up character. Docility, good nature, 



54 THE DAUGHTEK. 

and truthfulness will be their characteristics, if 
such qualities govern about them. They just as 
readily acquire objectionable ways if defective 
examples are placed before them. 

All that we have of knowledge or habit, both 
of mind and body, comes from suggestions from 
what is without and about us, imbibed largely 
from our associates and acquired chiefly by imi- 
tation. Every one is an unconscious imitator; 
children do not discriminate in the matter of 
their examples, but blindly copy whatever attracts 
their attention ; it may, perchance, be the good 
or the bad, the desirable or the vicious. 



-It cannot be claimed that children 



brought up in the country are better morally 
than those brought up in the cities. Evil exists 
in both places, and much of it cannot be kept 
from the knowledge of the young. It is seen 
in the city stripped of its glamour, and with 
its degrading effects more prominently in view, 
while in the country the unrestrained imagina- 
tion is apt to supply fascinations which do not 



PUBEETY. 55 

in reality exist. It is often better to know of 
dangers in order to avoid tliem than, in igno- 
rance, to grow up with the chances of succumb- 
ing to their attractions. 

The best basis for character is the funda- 
mental principles of religion, which furnish the 
true grounds for morality, honesty, purity, and 
sincerity. If love of truth and right for their 
own sakes, and a hatred of wrong simply because 
it is wrong, are successfully impressed upon the 
young, there is furnished a groundwork upon 
which the most admirable character may be 
developed. 



-The daughter is fortunate whose mother 



makes their intercourse a sympathetic compan- 
ionship, especially at the age of puberty, when 
those changes in body and mind take place which 
develop the girl into a woman. It is naturally 
a time of restlessness and of nerve irritability. 
Her mind is confused with vague dissatisfaction 
with all about her, and vaguer desires which she 
vainly endeavors to define even to herself. She 



56 THE DAUGHTEE. 

should be kept free from excitements both social 
and domestic. Quiet and aifectionate surround- 
ings will impress themselves lastingly upon her 
disposition. Her feelings are especially sensitive 
and easily hurt. Light occupations and living 
much out of doors in gentle exercise, not carried 
to the point of fatigue, with much to divert her 
thoughts away from herself, and much sleep, are 
called for. Let her have agreeable companions 
of her own sex, and, avoiding close study, guard 
her health with especial care. The mother can 
arrange all these matters, but the child had bet- 
ter remain unconscious that anything unusual is 
planned in her behalf, or that she is at all an 
object of solicitude. 

Of the changes in her body, no one can speak 
to her better than a mother ; but it will call for 
infinite tact and the nicest judgment to so discuss 
them that maiden modesty and the charm of 
feminine instinct be not disturbed, and that 
proper hygienic considerations shall be inculcated. 
Certainly, the child should not be left to derive 
knowledge upon such subjects from servants or 
chance friends, who are not likely to be properly 



MENSTKUATION. 57 

informed. It is not a time calling for alarm. 
The whole process is physiological, a growth and 
development according to the laws of nature ; no 
new thing is happening. 



The first coming of the menses is the real 

indication of puberty and the sign of normal de- 
velopment ; and the regular occurrence of this 
function is usually the most reliable symptom of 
health in woman. To provide for the reproduc- 
tion of the race, the womb and ovaries are sup- 
plied monthly with an extra quantity of blood, 
which, if not required for the development of a 
new creature, is passed off in the menstrual flow. 
By this means the congestion is relieved ; other- 
wise inflammation, with its pains and dangers, 
would follow ; hence the importance of insisting 
that the mode of life at this time must be such 
as not to interfere with or check this necessary 
exudation. Suppression is always a serious 
derangement, and is a cause of danger and 
disease. 



58 THE DAUGHTEK. 

The flow usually lasts four or five days, 
though the time is shorter with some and longer 
with others; but it should not continue longer 
than a week or eight days; and twenty-eight 
days, from the commencement of one flow to the 
commencement of the next, is the length of the 
period in the most of cases. 

During the flow, or sickness, some will suiFer 
more inconvenience than others ; but even the 
most favored will have headache, a disposition to 
nausea, and a sense of weakness and dull pain in 
the lower part of the back. The whole nervous 
system is under tension and is easily disturbed, 
and there is a dullness of the mental faculties for 
a day or two. At this time it is better to rest, as 
a semi-invalid, and during the whole time of the 
flow all violent exercise must be avoided ; other- 
wise derangements may be induced which will 
result in weaknesses and ill health, possibly for 
a hfe-time. 

Should the monthly sickness be late in 



first making its appearance, even though other 
signs of approaching maturity are apparent, it 



EEGULAEITY IN MENSTKUATION. 59 

need not be a matter of concern, provided the 
health in other respects is satisfactory. Let her 
have good food in plenty, fresh air, exercise with- 
out excess, and be patient. A little waiting will 
set all right. The change comes later to some 
than to others. She may have only a scanty 
white discharge for the first flow, or it may re- 
semble blood and water mixed. Simple cleanli- 
ness is all that is called for. No medicine should 
be employed to hasten the advent of the monthly 
sickness ; if, however, there be pain, headache, 
nervous disturbances, and much discomfort, and 
the general health is not good, its judicious use, 
under professional advice, may be desirable. 

Regularity in her periods, at first, will usually 
not be the rule. The first show will be very 
scant, and two or three months may elapse before 
the second, and, after several more or less regular 
periods, one or two may be skipped ; but regu- 
larity at about every four weeks will soon be 
established. It is of no great consequence 
whether or not she be regular in the first few 
months, if in other ways her bodily condition is 
good. 



60 THE DAUGHTEK. 

If the flow does not appear by the time she 
is sixteen or seventeen years of a^-e, other dis- 
turbances will most probably be manifested, and, 
under any circumstances, the condition is such 
that it is wise for the mother to seek competent 
medical advice upon the subject. 



Menstruation", or the monthly period, 

is a function as natural to woman as breathing 
or digestion, and is essential to her health and 
comfort. It occurs during a period of about 
thirty years of her life, beginning in temperate 
climates at the age of thirteen or fourteen years, 
and ceasing at about the age of forty-five. Its 
cessation is as natural an event as its beginning, 
and neither occurrence marks a time of especial 
menace to life or health. In warm climates the 
changes come somewhat earlier, and in cold 
climates later. The manner of life which the 
girl leads also has its influence, a sedentary habit, 
with stimulating excitements, common in city 
life, inducing the menses earlier than the quieter 
and more active out-door life of the country. 



REST DUEING MENSTRUATION. 61 

During pregnancy and nursing the monthly 
flow is normally absent, thus affording a pro- 
longed rest to the reproductive system. School- 
girls should have rest, and partial or entire release 
from study as may seem necessary, during the 
flow. A well-regulated, active life between the 
periods conduces much to diminish the pain and 
lassitude of the time. Indeed, we may suppose 
that, in perfect health, pain is not a necessary 
accompaniment, though ordinarily experienced. 

From about the commencement of her courses 
till about the age of nineteen or twenty she is 
especially sensitive, and doubtless many nervous 
troubles, which continue through life, have their 
origin in overtaxing the powers of mind or body 
at a time when all the vital energies are required 
for healthy development. If study is difficult, or 
if she shows any disposition whatever to flag, 
give her rest, and let her pursue the mode of 
life before indicated. Few girls can stand the 
close application to study, with strain of mind, at 
this period, without detriment to health in many 
forms. Much as it is desirable to have a higher 
standard of education for woman, this formative 



62 THE DAUGHTEK. 

period, which determines the future well-heing, 
not only of the individual, but of families, must 
be respected. It would be better if they were 
not kept too closely to school-duties just then, 
but were rather left free to develop more rugged 
bodies, with stronger nervous systems. A few 
years later they can undertake the most exact- 
ing studies with the happiest results, and with 
no drawbacks to healtli. Unfortunately, by 
common usage, these later years are given to 
society, which is so exacting in its demands that 
but little time or disposition is left for serious 
study. But marriage could, with advantage, be 
put off a few years longer in very many instances, 
and doubtless the family would, in consequence, 
be started with more discriminating and intelli- 
gent judgment, and upon a basis promising a 
satisfactory continuance. 



-Strict regularity every four weeks is 



not realized by all women, as here and there are 
individuals enjoying good health whose period 
is invariably a few days shorter and others a 
few days longer than that time. It is desirable, 



AKKESTED MENSTRUATION. 63 

for both mind and body, not to dwell much upon 
the subject, but, observing the rules of health, do 
nothing in any way to meddle with the process ; 
and, when the time arrives, give it only such at- 
tention as is required, always remembering that 
it is a natural operation of the system, and must 
not be interfered wdth. The bath, at this time, 
should be warm, and under no circumstances 
should the body be immersed in cold water im- 
mediately before the appearance of the ilow^ or 
during its continuance, even though it had been 
customary to take cold baths at other times. 
The feet should always be kept warm and dry. 

If the flow is unusually frequent or unusu- 
ally copious, or if long delayed or much dimin- 
ished in quantity, or ceases altogether w^ithout the 
occurrence of a natural cause, it should be taken 
as an indication of some serious derangement of 
the system. Such occurrences would probably 
be accompanied by discomforts which naturally 
produce uneasiness of mind and suggest medical 
aid. 

The monthly sickness is sometimes abruptly 
arrested by exposure to cold and wet when the 



64 THE DAUGHTER. 

body is heated, or by getting the feet wet and 
chilled. Great discomfort from colicky pains, cold 
feet, and sensitiveness of the whole surface of the 
body to changes of temperature, headache, back- 
ache, and lassitude will result, and be at times 
accompanied by fever ; and similar inconveniences 
are sometimes experienced, without any especial 
exposure, from causes not always plainly indicated. 
The patient should have a hot foot-bath, go to 
bed, be tucked in warmly, and have copious hot 
drinks of a simple kind, such as lemonade, to in- 
duce a free perspiration. All alcoholic stimula- 
tion is to be avoided. A rubber bag, or a bottle 
of hot water, or a heated stove-plate wrapped in 
flannel, or a hot poultice, or any other device, 
may be used to apply heat to the lower part of 
the abdomen. If the bowels have not been free 
it will be beneficial to move them with a simple 
saline draught, such as a tablespoonful of Rochelle 
salt in a tumblerful of hot water taken upon an 
empty stomach. 



CESSATION OF MENSTRUATION. 65 

At about the age of forty-five the menses 

cease, but this change of life comes to some rather 
earher, and to others rather later. As a rule, 
those who menstruate early are apt to continue 
late, and those who commence late will probably 
cease early. If no children have been born, the 
change comes early; if many have been born, it 
comes late. The cessation is rarely abrupt. A 
period will probably be prolonged, then the flow 
may recur, and it may be variable in amount, but 
finally cessation will be established. 

When everything proceeds normally and with- 
out especial bodily discomfort, there should be no 
interference, the cessation being as natural to 
woman's functional life as the commencement, or 
as the flow itself. A return of the flow after ces- 
sation has been established for some considerable 
time is always unnatural, and is a matter which 
should call for competent medical attention. 

As woman's health and comfort depend so 
much upon the regular and proper operation of 
the important function of menstruation, all irregu- 
larities should receive intelligent attention. It 
is impossible to formulate any treatment which 



66 THE DAUGHTER. 

will apply to every case of disorder in a matter 
which may arise from so many different causes. 
A special knowledge and a careful consideration 
of each case is necessary to guide to the use of 
the proper remedies. 



Probably the most troublesome and most 

common of woman's diseases is leucorrhoea, or 
what is often called the whites. Few are exempt 
from it at some times of their lives, and it may 
occur at any age, even in infancy, but more 
often at puberty and subsequently. It not infre- 
quently precedes and follows the menstrual flow, 
and in exceptional cases, with pale and delicate 
women, it may take its place. It is of catarrhal 
nature, and the discharge may come from inflam- 
mations of the lining membrane of the womb, 
or of mucous surfaces in its neighborhood. 
Its causes are numerous. It may proceed from 
local irritations, induced by rough traveling, ex- 
cessive exercise, or displacements of the womb; 
but is more commonly a local expression of some 
disorder of the system, and may result from a 
cold, or exposure to the weather, or constipation, 



LEUCOKKHCEA. 67 

or from a condition of general debility. It is not 
so mnch a disease as it is a symptom indicating a 
deflection from good general health. 

In the acute form it is very painful, the parts 
being swollen and sore, and the discharge ex- 
cessive and irritating; while in the chronic form 
the inflammatory symptoms are absent or dimin- 
ished, and the discharge, though less, is constant, 
and is a drag upon health, causing headache, 
pain in the back, lassitude, and general malaise. 
The treatment should include such hygienic 
modes of life as favor the best bodily condition, 
and absolute local cleanliness by a moderate use 
of a mild soap, and much hot water. A vaginal 
douche of hot water continued for five minutes 
or more at a time, daily, is beneficial, and is 
often best given while the patient takes a hot 
sitz-bath. The hot w^ater must be brought con- 
tinuously into contact with all the aflected mucous 
surfaces. Such a treatment, followed immediately 
by a vaginal injection of a pint of hot water, in 
which has been dissolved a small teaspoon ful of 
powdered alum, or the same quantity of refined 
borax, will be rendered still more beneficial. 



68 THE DAUGHTER. 

This treatment may be required for some weeks 
in obstinate cases, but must be omitted for a 
week during the menstrual flow. Internal tonic 
treatment, to improve the general health, is also 
commonly called for, and should be pursued at 
the same time. 



-If the young man wishes to see a picture 



of his wife as she will appear and behave twenty 
years hence, let him observe and study the mother 
of his sweetheart. Like mother, like daughter, 
is an adage most likely to prove true. Her daily 
example in the privacy of home is an object- 
lesson more deeply impressive than the same 
example modified by outside conventionalities. 
The characteristic home atmosphere which she 
creates influences the daughter in a special 
manner, because of their intimate association. 
The lessons of childhood may not blossom into 
fruit until later in life, but what was bred in 
works outwardly; for, like produces like. This 
is suggestive, and may well be taken to heart 
and acted upon. 



LIKE MOTHEK, LIKE DAUGHTEK. 69 

Many petty trials are liard to bear, though 
quite often resulting from our own neglect or 
lack of forethought. Let them be righted if they 
may be, but do not let them prevent the culti- 
vation of patience of soul with the unavoidable. 
What cannot be helped should not stir up discord, 
nor overthrow self-control, nor disturb the peace 
of the household. The most carefully ordered 
lives are vexed with troubles, which come as if 
springing from the ground. Children can be 
taught that self-cultivation properly runs along 
with, and mingles in, all occupations from the 
earliest years ; and that character is evolved from 
habits of self-reliance and truthfulness. Patience, 
self-control, fortitude, efficiency, and honor are 
jewels of rare value. Such traits are not inborn, 
but are acquired, and are learned only by pains- 
taking efforts. If mother-care in childhood does 
not teach them, hard knocks and rough battlings 
in later years, perchance, may, but only after the 
little span of life is nearly spent. 



70 THE DAUGHTEE. 

To preserve the charm of true modesty 



and mnocence, it is safer for the girl that she be 
instructed concerning the requirements of per- 
sonal purity, rather than be allowed to grope 
amid chance experiences and to run the risks of 
unfriendly influences. Experience is the only 
teacher for all, but in many things the lessons 
may be taken at second hand, and the wise do 
well to profit by the experiences of others. 
Although it may be a difficult duty to perform, 
no careful mother will neglect to properly in- 
struct her daughter in matters relating to the 
sexual nature. Thoughts upon this subject can- 
not be avoided, but will arise as mind and body 
develop, and they should be wisely and intelli- 
gently directed in confidential talks skillfully 
planned and discreetly managed by the mother. 

Sexual matters are not motives and aims in 
life, but they imperiously mingle with and influ- 
ence all motives and aims. They are inseparable 
from existence, and though important must be 
made subordinate, and though irrepressible must 
be held in subjection. To ignore them is as fatal 
to happiness and success in life as to allow them 



ABOUT SEXUAL NATURE. 71 

to be the objects of chief pursuit. To underrate 
their influence is a great mistake ; it must be 
justly appreciated in order to maintain an elFect- 
ive control by the stronger forces of the intellect 
and the will. Let it be remembered how large a 
portion of human misery results from the dis- 
•orderly animal passion. Much of this should be 
withheld from the knowledge of the young, but 
enough for their own safety may be pointed out 
by the mother, and be accompanied by such ad- 
monitions as seem suitable in each individual 
case. That the duty is a delicate one and is sur- 
rounded by difficulties affords no reason for its 
avoidance, but rather calls for redoubled tact and 
a superior skill, which will not fail of their aim 
when instigated by the loving instinct of a true 
mother's heart. 

The subject is obviously not one for promis- 
cuous discussion, but nothing is gained in private 
by veiling it with mystifying reserves and inge- 
nious evasions, which serve often to keep smol- 
dering an unsatisfied curiosity that had better be 
laid to rest by a little necessary plain and whole- 
some truth. Here, as upon many other social 



72 THE DAUGHTEK. 

subjects, greater safety to the individual and to 
the communitv hes in knowleds^e tendins: to wis- 
dom rather than in ignorance, if only the mind 
is maintained in a proper attitude toward the 
facts. It might, indeed, be well frankly to con- 
cede as a fact that, during all of healthy life, the 
animal passion obtrudes itself unbidden upon the 
attention of all alike, with more or less power of 
impertinent distraction (simply because all alike, 
in nature's order, belong to the animal kingdom), 
and the duty of constant vigilance to maintain its 
suppression must be inculcated early and insisted 
upon throughout. Individual peculiarities assert 
themselves in this as in other directions, and, 
while the duty of restraint may set lightly on 
some, it doubtless is a distracting and nagging 
burden to others. Xature, civil law, and the 
church uphold the marriage tie, that the social 
instincts of the race may be fostered and at the 
same time an obtrusive appetite be held in 
subordination as incidental only, which otherwise 
might too easily become an overmastering and 
disturbing passion. The exigencies of social 
conditions compel restraint and regulation, and 
constitute them into a moral code which includes 



ABOUT SEXUAL NATUEE. 73 

a necessity of personal control of thought, feel- 
ing, and imagination, as well as of actions ; and 
which is obligatory not only for the peace of 
mind of the individual, but also for the best in- 
terests of order in the community. To right- 
thinking minds this obligation is also re-inforced 
by the considerations of religion, in all ages and 
in all countries, the only known basis for 
morality. 

The subject of reproduction may be touched 
upon neither haltingly nor too explicitly, but in 
a matter-of-course way, treating it, as in the study 
of botany, as one of the commonest processes of 
nature. A certain amount of information in 
regard to it is needed, to keep from errors 
and blighting mistakes, often committed purely 
throuo'll io-norance which should have been dis- 
polled. To the brooding imagination it may be- 
come seductive from the very mystery which is 
made to envelop it. Too often questionable so- 
ciety usages, the suggestive drama, and the 
fashionable novel are the main sources which 
give a young woman her knowledge on subjects 
that relate to the passions. 



74 THE DAUGHTEB. 

It would be far Aviser on many accounts 
if mothers would discountenance all associations 
and modes of life which have a tendency to 
excite sexual considerations, and to substitute 
busy occupations to monopolize the time and 
keep both mind and body from running into 
morbid states. The young, of all others, should 
not allow their thoughts to centre upon them- 
selves. The surest way to overcome unwhole- 
some subjective states, especially of an erotic 
kind, is with an unyielding determination to per- 
sistently divert the mind. In such matters the 
body is under the control of the mind. 

An appreciation of the situation cannot, how- 
ever, be expected in the young, who, in the surge 
of mental and bodily development, with its charm- 
ing surprises of novelty, heedlessly float along in 
the present, quite unconscious of future dangers, 
of which it is impossible for them to know, except 
they be warned by trusted guides. Mothers are 
the safest, and should aim to be the most trusted, 
guides for their daughters. Their own experi- 
ences and broadened views of life peculiarly fit 
them to teach to their daughters valuable self- 



HOUSEHOLD DUTIES. 75 

knowledge, and to warn them against the many 
dehisive snares of youth and early maturity. This 
is a noble vocation, and no social duty, in public 
or private, ranks higher in importance. In no 
other way will their influence be so effective or so 
lasting. Mothers shape the careers and destiny 
of their children. It is they who lead toward 
and make possible a higher civilization and 
genuine refinement, if only their own aspirations 
are resolutely directed thitherward. Theirs is 
the power behind the throne, prevailing, though 
unseen. The best social interests of the race 
are in the keeping of faithful mothers. Their 
education, both of intellect and of heart, should 
be of the highest order. 



The daughter should be encouraged to 

take a proper share and manifest a personal 
interest in the affairs of the household, as they 
offer the means of useful training in many prac- 
tical matters. In it she not only enjoys advan- 
tages in common with the rest, but has the 
opportunity to learn how to order a home for 
herself in the future. It may be made to play a 



76 THE DAUGHTEE. 

most valuable part in her education. The details 
are best learned by actual participation in the 
responsible duties, but the more laborious parts 
may properly be put, under her supervision, upon 
servants, if such form a part of the household. 
In this way may be refuted the charge that the 
lives of so many girls in society are aimless. A 
little music, some reading of novels, devotion to 
dress and society engagements, and a short, super- 
ficial schooling, neither satisfy the cravings of a 
noble mind nor fit the girl for the duties of after 
years. The troubles about inefficient servants 
would be corrected in one generation if there 
were no inefficient mistresses. A well-regulated 
household must be intelligently ordered by her 
whose position is at its head, and the qualifica- 
tions for her office are obtainable only by careful 
personal attention to its duties. As in the case 
of a captain of a ship, the understanding of 
details must be complete, and attention must be 
constant, to see that all the work is properly 
done, though probably none of it need be done 
personally. The busy activities of home-life, if 
engaged in cheerfully and with a love for system 
and orderly methods, are exhilarating and health- 



CO-EDUCATION OF SEXES. 77 

ful, and are a panacea for the frequent vacuity 
and ennui in tlie lives of young women removed 
by affluent circumstances from the actual necessity 
of working for a living. 



Much is said, pro and con, about the 

co-education of the sexes, especially in the higher 
branches of study. It must be remembered that 
while it may suit some it will not best suit others. 
In spite of the wise things brought forward by 
those favoring mixed classes, one fails to under- 
stand why they should be called for at all. The 
recurring monthly sickness in young women, with 
its palpable suggestions of the function of repro- 
duction, and accompanying nerve-excitation, have 
their influence upon the imagination. It would 
be impossible to say that that influence Avill not 
be enhanced by intimate association with the 
other sex, in the class-room and play-ground, 
away from parental and home restraints. Still, 
the popular demand is now emphatic that the 
mental training of the sexes shall be more nearly 
alike, in order to insure compatible marriage 
unions. To conclude, however, as necessary to 



78 THE DAUGHTER. 

accomplish this, the studies must be undertaken 
together, under the same roof, and in the same 
classes, is going rather further than the premises 
seem to warrant. 

There are inborn differences in the 



sexes which assert themselves, no matter what 
may be the education and surroundings. Educa- 
tion should not seek to obliterate these, but 
should aim to enhance the good points in each 
and advance them toward the ideals of manhood 
and womanhood. It ever will be that many 
subjects which men consider trivial will be by 
women esteemed of prime importance, and things 
of essential necessity with men will be regarded 
with comparative indifference by women. Proba- 
bly, however, taking into view the full scope of 
life and its social aspect, experience demonstrates 
the wisdom of nature's arrangement in this 
regard. 



We may smile at but need not rebuke 

the instinct of the young girl to enhance by 
adornments her physical charms, which nature 



CONSIDERING MAERIAGE. 79 

already lias made more attractive than all things 
else to man. Woman's innate solicitude is to 
please, but this is not best accomplished by arti- 
ficial manners or external show. 

Illusions fade away in the home-circle, where 
sterling character and loveliness of soul, such as 
earnest purpose aims to attain and poets idealize 
in their songs, inspire the most enduring regard. 
The girl whose lover marries her for what she is, 
and not for what deceptive manners and surround- 
ings cheated his fancy into believing her to be, 
will be able to continue the love-charm all 
through married life. Her desire to attract and 
please is a part of nature's grand scheme, and 
involves, of course, the subject of mating, the 
natural instinct of the race, the pivotal idea 
around which social life revolves. Thoughts 
upon marriage Avill very properly find place in 
the maiden mind, and should not be treated 
severely, nor as cause for censure. The mother 
would do well to discuss them with a judicious 
freedom, encouraging high and worthy aims, and 
imparting correct ideas concerning the domestic 
tis, disentangled from heated fancies too apt to 



80 THE DAUGHTEK. 

give a false glow in the imagination of youth. 
Woman lives largely in her affections, and her 
own happiness and that of the home depend 
much upon their being well bestowed and grace- 
fully brought into active exercise. The accept- 
ance or refusal of marriage lies with herself, and, 
consent having been yielded, courtship properly 
gives way to earnest efforts to establish in good 
faith that companionship and identity of interests 
and congeniality of tastes which always form the 
basis of comfortable married life. 



-That subtle intermingling of sexual and 



mental qualities in woman, which gives her the 
power and extraordinary influence over men 
which is commonly spoken of as love, is a thing 
of nature's ordering, and is a potent instrument 
to make or mar her own and the happiness of 
her family. By it may be wrought out the 
highest ideals of social and domestic felicity, or 
it may be made to serve mere temporary and 
ignoble purposes. As an inherent possession she 
will use it for good or ill, according to the measure 
of her intelligence, and there is no danger that 



TRAINING FOR MARRIED LIFE. 81 

any erratic wave of reformation will ever per- 
suade her to forego the exercise of a natural ad- 
vantage so pleasing to herself and so captivating 
to tlie other sex. But the experienced mother 
should instruct the daughter that the power of 
love may be evanescent, and, unless worthily and 
unselfishly bestowed, will pass aw^ay with beauty 
and youth, and will not outlive the freshness of 
physical charms. Her study should be to pro- 
long its sway, for, while it lasts, it is the most 
potent factor in family life, as wtII as the most 
powerful of passions. Great will be the gain if 
the young woman, whilst in her freshness and 
bloom, learns how to hold the heart she has won 
so easily, and can be made to comprehend how 
short is the time which mere sexual love can call 
its own. Let her be taught how this strong but 
evanescent passion may be developed, by discreet 
fostering, into the highest forms of love and 
become enduring as life itself. 

The sexual instinct is the foundation of 



social conditions and the cause of mutual inter- 
ests. Subsequent relationships — not independ- 



82 THE DAUGHTEE. 

ent of tlie former, but meeting higher needs — 
are evolved upon higher planes of association. 
Woman's instinct contrives telling devices in 
dress to heighten her sexual peculiarities; but 
when the force of passion wanes, and desire 
wears less keen an edge, daily companionship 
becomes monotonously flat, unless enlivened by 
a loving flavor born of homely virtues and gen- 
uine character. If the charm of wifely influence 
weakens, what shall compensate for the disap- 
pointment ] The wife who reigns supreme in 
the regard of her husband is to him all that 
any other might be, and, by her peculiar affec- 
tion, shares his inmost life, which she intuitively 
divines. The picture is not to be thrust aside 
because it is ideal. Dean Swift, in his forceful 
but humorous way, declares that the reason why 
so few marriages are happy is because young 
ladies spend their time in making nets to catch 
lovers and not in making cages to retain them. 



That is but a sorry marriage which is 

not the response to the yearning affection of two 
hearts for each other. To say that mothers 



CONSIDEKING MAKKIAGE. 83 

should instil this sentiment into the minds of their 
daughters, would seem superfluous were it not 
set aside for other and very unworthy motives, 
so often, that concealment of the fact seems no 
longer to he generally attempted. Rank, social 
position, wealth, and even real merit do not satisfy 
the longing of the soul for love and companion- 
ship. Intuitively in the breast of each, fresh as 
hope itself, springs the belief that such satisfaction 
should be obtained in marriage, and is a natural 
right of the individual. But if love is a prize it 
is accorded to merit, and, like all else of value, 
must be striven for. The eternal laws which 
adjust the relation of all persons to each other, 
according to the expansion of soul and the attain- 
ments of the mind, determine the possibilities of 
companionship and the real affinities. After the 
charming ecstasy of the mating has become a 
luminous point in life's retrospect, what avails to 
her unsatisfied soul the wealth or social rank, if 
the wife has no aims, no versatility of conversa- 
tion, nor intellectual stores, from which to weave 
home enchantments to meet, more nearly than 
club-life and convivial dissipations, the wants and 
aims in the life of husband and sons in hours 



84 THE DAUGHTEE. 

outside of those demanded by the daily occupa- 
tions 1 If there is to be companionship in wed- 
lock it must be on higher planes than the monot- 
onous routine of daily life, or exacted devotion, 
or the gratification of personal vanity. 

High ideals should be implanted in the 



youthful mind, that they may grow and be cher- 
ished throughout life, and especially should they 
be held in view during the period from about 
seventeen to twenty- three years of age, when so 
much shape and direction is given to the future 
career. During this period the associations and 
occupations determine the cast and character of 
the mind, and impress upon it habits and tastes 
which will govern the life. This is not less true 
of the girl than of the boy. While it may be 
admitted that obedience to a natural instinct de- 
mands of her a certain care in dress and personal 
adornment, such considerations must not be al- 
lowed to fully absorb the mind. Those who 
take also an appreciative interest in the march 
of events in the great world, and in the move- 
ments of more particular concern in their own 



HOME-MAKING. 85 

communities, and who keep themselves famihar 
with the current thought of the day, do more 
wisely. Their minds are equipped with subjects 
upon which refreshing and rational interchange 
of thought will redeem daily association from 
falling into insipidity. The best social clubs are 
family homes in which the members successfully 
cultivate companionship among themselves. The 
wife is the recognized house-committee, and upon 
her discreet management the prosperity of the 
organization greatly depends. 

The ordering of our domestic affairs con- 



stitutes woman the home-maker, and when her 
full duty is done in that direction the result will 
transcend in appropriateness and in essential 
glory all other achievements within the possibility 
of her accomplishment. Here is offered full 
scope for efforts toward the most exalted ideals. 
These are not, however, such as find expression 
only in luxury and external show, nor such as 
may be bought in the shops. Opportunity is 
afforded her to shape the family life upon princi- 
ples of the most confiding companionship and 



86 THE DAUaHTEE. 

ennobling sentiments of respect, and to maintain 
a devotion to that true culture which creates the 
higher social life, — higher than the routine and 
dull grind inseparable from bodily existence, — 
higher in spite of them. 



■Housekeeping is not a simple under- 



taking. It is, in fact, a business of a complicated 
kind. Its management is generally conceded to 
belong to the wife, who cannot successfully take 
it up without a previous training. And upon 
her ability in this matter depends largely the 
success or failure of the home. Therefore, in- 
terested personal attention to its details is neces- 
sary if the girl aspires to honorably assume the 
responsibilities of wife and home-maker. 

It is assumed that the man she will marry 
was trained to his calling, and her training and 
ambition are defective, and the odds will tell 
against her, if she does not seek equal pro- 
ficiency in the vocation she aims to exercise. 
He reasonably looks for a certain efficiency on 
her part. If it is wanting in after-married hfe 



HOUSEKEEPING. 87 

there is nothing which will continue the charm 
which first awakened his interest in her. The 
only foundations upon which married love ahides 
are respect for personal character and ahility in 
matters essential to the making of an acceptable 
home. 

Training in these branches of the girl's edu- 
cation will with propriety come from the mother, 
and should be acquired before marriage by the 
daily exercise of home duties and responsibilities. 
Homes are largely established on account of the 
children, who should early be taught to feel a 
personal interest in the system and order of the 
household. If the mother has neither the skill 
nor the disposition to give such a training to her 
daughter, the case of the latter is most unfor- 
tunate ; for, among the subjects taught in schools 
for girls, some are wanting, a knowledge of Avhich 
constitutes the essential element of successful 
management in the relations of wife, mother, 
housekeeper, home-maker, helpmeet, companion, 
and care-taker. 



88 THE DAUGHTEE. 

Long engagements of marriage are not 

desirable; they are depressing, and often injurious 
to health, both of mind and body. A long ac- 
quaintanceship before engagement, however, is 
desirable, and if the parties appear to be suited in 
all respects the betrothal may take place, to be 
followed by marriage in a few months, at longest. 
It is far better that the subject of marriage should 
not be entertained at all unless circumstances are 
such that the union might with propriety be 
effected at once, were all the parties in interest so 
disposed. There may be much pleasant sentiment 
in engagements which involve a long waiting for 
obstacles to be cleared away, but they are detri- 
mental, as intimated above. 

Poetry sings of love in strains which fire the 
spirit with longing for a realization of the visions 
she so skillfully weaves; and art idealizes forms 
which spur imagination's kindling fancies; and 
religion purifies and makes sacred the master- 
passion which refuses to be counted apart from 
any of all the concerns of life. But these deal 
only with the concomitant delights which should 
ever spring from the correct adjustment of the 



MARKIAGE. 89 

physical considerations, which, rightly regarded, 
are alone recognized by nature as the basis of 
marriage. It is well to embellish it with culti- 
vated and exalted sentiments, but its primary 
function is to provide man with a most suitable 
companion, — a helpmeet, — and to insure an 
orderly continuance of the species. The discreet 
mother will not allow her daughter to contem- 
plate entering upon marriage without some intel- 
ligent consideration of this phase of the subject. 
A failure to meet the requirements of nature's 
laws of matrimony, or a disposition to put them 
at defiance in the prevalent distaste for maternity, 
and the restless reaching after prominence in pub- 
lic, to the neglect of domestic duties, are causes 
which obstruct the attainment of ideal married 
life. Even if there be fair appearances to out- 
side eyes, its very life and charm will be Avanting 
in the absence of that which gives its essential 
flavor. Nothing will compensate for the ills 
arising from erroneous ideas on this point. The 
home degenerates into a mere shelter, or a con- 
ventional abode, and can never be a sacred retreat 
where confidences and mutual sacrifices inspire in 



90 THE DAUGHTER. 

each the sentiments which warm the fancy and 
enrich the soul. The world, outside the family 
circle, is too often found to be devoid of sym- 
pathy, governed as it is by self-seeking in the 
struggle for existence. 



-Marriage should take precedence over 



all other relations in life. Besides being the foun- 
dation of society, it is the regulating principle 
from which spring both the motives and the 
actions which mark the career and give the dis- 
tinctions in the life of the individual. If there 
are antagonisms, or an absence of congenial in- 
terests between man and wife, the harmony which 
fundamentally should pervade their union will be 
absent, and no number of incidental melodies can 
adequately compensate for its loss, or fill out the 
volume and rhythm of life's symphony. The man 
in such a union goes handicapped into the arena 
of business competition. His best talents are not 
at command, nor his best energies put forth, be- 
cause the most potent instigations to exertion do 
not exist for him. His mind is not at rest on the 
one point which affects every interest in his life. 



OBJECT OF MAKKIAGE. 91 

The wife who makes a well-ordered home, to 
wliich her husband hastens with delight for rest 
and congenial companionship, and from which he 
departs to daily occupations refreshed in spirit, is 
in no insignificant sense a partner in lier hus- 
band's affairs, and will be cheerfully accorded a 
full share of his successes. In the words of the 
wise man, "Her price is far above rubies; the 
heart of her husband doth safely trust in her; 
she will do him good, and not evil, 
all the days of her life;" and the completeness 
of his domestic satisfaction is irrefutable evidence 
of her eminent success and happiness in her 
chosen career. 



-Civilization and education have added 



to w^edlock the ideas of home and endearing 
social relations, but in nature's design the primary 
object of marriage is the continuance of the race, 
the fulfillment of the primal injunction in Eden 
to increase and multiply that the earth's popula- 
tion may be replenished. Emerson says, "The 
lover seeks in marriage his private felicity and 
perfection, with no prospective end ; and nature 



92 THE DAUGHTEB. 

hides in his happiness her own end, namely, 
progeny, or the perpetuity of the race." There 
is danger that in the artificial refinements of our 
times, as at certain periods in the past, the at- 
tempt to avoid nature's requirements in this 
respect will work degenerative changes in the 
social life of the nation. Expensive and purely 
selfish modes of living make maternity un- 
fashionable, and render impossible the ideal 
home-circle; so that it may happen that over- 
refinement and social and intellectual develop- 
ment will work their own defeat, purely from 
lack of off'spring from legitimate parentage. 
Nature, however, will not be circumvented, for 
children are born in due proportion, and popula- 
tion increases from year to year. The real ques- 
tion, then, is not Shall there be children '? but, 
rather. Shall the children have reputable mothers 
and the advantages of orderly family training'? 
Recent statistics show that in Scotland one birth 
in about every ten is outside of wedlock ; in Paris 
one in about every three ; and in Germany, 
Austria, and Italy conditions are similar. It is 
not known what the figures would show in re- 



STEKILITY. 93 

gard to our own country, but there are those who 
think it in a still worse state, inasmuch as the 
absence of foundUng hospitals tends to multiply 
the number of infanticides. Children of the class 
alluded to above are often cared for in public in- 
stitutions, and, lacking family associations, grow 
up totally without experience upon w^hich to set 
up homes for themselves in after life, even if they 
should be so mclined. Their tendency is too 
often downward toward vicious and criminal 
living. Well may those solicitous for the per- 
manency of pure social institutions ask if the 
disposition is not growing among us to avoid 
marriage on account of its burdens, and regard- 
less of its compensations, and, if so, whether the 
remedy does not lie in the direction which would 
enlarge the interests and privileges of the family, 
and make it, rather than the individual, the social 
unit. 



-Whatever may be the motives which 



prompt a determination to avoid child-bearing 
during early married life, they dwindle into in- 
significance in later years, when repining at a 



94 THE DAUGHTER. 

childless lot colors the whole existence. The 
desire for offspring is natural wherever ambition 
urges to aggressive struggles for noble achieve- 
ments. Children, as companions, add a zest to 
life, and when we are gone they represent our 
influence and prolong it to future generations. 
Nature, however, withholds such gifts at times. 

In general communities marriages are unpro- 
ductive in about the proportion of one in nine 
times, and, considering the exceedingly com- 
plicated nature of the organs of generation, the 
wonder is that the proportion of failures is not 
greater. The reason of disappointment in this 
respect cannot always be determined, but many 
causes of sterility have been successfully over- 
come by intelligent medical treatment, while 
some pass away in time, and others remain per- 
manent, though both parties, in other respects, 
enjoy perfect health. Writers upon the subject 
assert that in one out of every thirteen cases of 
sterile marriages, the physical defect is on the 
part of the husband, and nine times in ten it is 
on the part of the wife. In a certain proportion 
of instances it must be referred to incompatible 



PKEGNANCY. 95 

temperaments, or to psychical causes. One-half 
of the men at seventy to eighty years of age, and 
one-half of the women at forty years of age, are 
still able to procreate. The precise time of con- 
ception cannot be determined accurately; neither 
can the sex of the unborn child be in any way 
influenced or predicted with certainty. 

Woman's frame, in the temperate zone, 



is not fully matured before an age approaching 
twenty-five years, and until then it is not best 
fitted for child-bearing with highest adA^antage to 
both mother and offspring. It is not desirable 
that the excitements incident to the preparation 
and celebration of the wedding, an event which 
stirs to its profoundest depths and wholly absorbs 
the female mind, should be immediately followed 
by pregnancy, and hence a day is usually selected 
for the wedding which will come about two 
weeks after the menstrual flow, as occurring in 
a period of her month which is less favorable for 
conception. 



96 THE DAUGHTER. 

Naturally the married daughter will turn to 
her mother for advice when the question of the 
probability of her own pregnancy arises in her 
mind. The menstrual flow will fail to appear 
at the usual time. The external genital organs 
will be swollen and bluish in appearance from 
congestion of the parts. At the next would-be 
period the breasts are tender and somewhat 
swollen, and at the third month the nipples are 
more prominent and their areolae are soft, slightly 
puffy, and growing darker, and the little secreting 
glands upon their surface enlarged. At three 
months the womb may be felt rising a finger's 
breadth above the pubes-bone, and at four 
months it is three fingers' breadth above. The 
appetite is capricious, and there is oflen a sick 
stomach, more especially at the time of the 
would-be period; but these symptoms modify 
and subside at the fourth month. The unnatural 
longings and the fancies for unusual articles of 
food are more affectations than realities, and need 
neither be regarded nor indulged, if she be so 
minded. Often the mind is brighter during 
pregnancy, and the views are enlarged and the 



PREGNANCY. 97 

mood thoughtful, though cheerful; but usually 
the nervous system is more anxious, irritable, 
and more easily depressed than at other times. 
These latter conditions are more apt to accompany 
oilier pregnancies than the first. 

The child's movements are usually felt by the 
mother at the fourth and subsequent months, 
and its heart may be heard to beat at the sixth 
month, faintly but rapidly, like the ticking of a 
watch, if the ear is applied over the maternal 
abdomen. 

Pregnancy commonly lasts about two hun- 
dred and seventy-five days, though exceptionally 
it overruns this time or comes short of it. The 
exact time of its commencement cannot be de- 
termined with certainty, but a convenient rule, 
whereby to calculate as nearly as may be the 
date of its conclusion, is, to add five days to 
the date when the menses last ceased, and then 
count backward three months on the calendar 
to find the day and the month which, occurring 
next again, will about end the pregnancy. 



98 THE DAUGHTER. 

The pregnant woman should attend carefully 
to the rules of health in the use of bathing, fresh 
air, clothing, and food. In the later months she 
had better eat little at a time, but often, rather 
than partake of hearty meals. Much bodily ac- 
tivity is not called for, but a sufficient amount of 
light exercise should daily be taken in the open 
air, and cheerful society should be sought, as well 
as agreeable occupations for the mind and suita- 
ble employment for the hands. High-heeled 
shoes and garters and corsets must be laid aside, 
and all pressure on the breasts and nipples 
avoided. A warm bath once or twice a week 
and a sitz-bath every night are very desirable. 
To prevent an undue stretching of the abdominal 
walls, as the size increases, a broad and well- 
adjusted bandage, made of flannel or muslin and 
shaped to the form of the abdomen, should be 
worn, to support, without pressure, the in- 
creasing weight. It gives great comfort to the 
wearer, and is the most effective means to secure 
a restoration of the form after delivery. Wear- 
ing the bandage after delivery has very little 
utility for this purpose, if the walls of the abdo- 



PREGNANCY. 99 

men have already been stretched and are lax 
from previous neglect. 

The bowels must be kept m nommal health 
and be especially free from constipation, which 
should be accomplished preferably by diet rather 
than by the use of drugs. Experience will de- 
cide in each case what food best answers for this 
purpose. Sometimes a glass of hot water on 
rising will move the bowels, and, if needed, 
a spoonful of Rochelle salt may be stirred in 
it to make it more efficacious. A half-dozen 
large raisins, eaten after supper and w^ell chewed, 
will at times answer; or a tablespoonful of 
bran, or coarse-ground oatmeal, stirred in a 
glass of milk or water on going to bed. Citrate 
of Magnesia may be used if there is joined with 
the constipation a sour taste in the mouth. The 
compound liquorice-pow^der — a teaspoonful in a 
glass of hot water at bed-time — may occasionally 
be taken if needed; but the fewer the drugs 
taken while pregnant the better, and it must be 
borne in mind that some medicines, proper enough 
at other times, are now to be avoided as positively 
hurtful. 



100 THE DAUGHTEK. 

The physician to attend the confinement 
should be engaged some weeks before the ex- 
pected time, and he, by attentive examination, 
must assure himself of the normal character of 
all the conditions in the case. He is a very 
suitable person with whom to confer in regard to 
many details to insure comfort and success at 
the culminating moment of greatest interest, at 
which time he will himself be present. 

The monthly nurse also should be engaged in 
advance, and should be selected on account of 
experience and efficiency in her calling. Neither 
the physician nor nurse should come at any time 
to the bedside of the Ivins^-in woman from at- 
tending upon patients suffering with contagious 
diseases of any kind. They should be scrupu- 
lously clean about their own persons and cloth- 
ing, and this must be particularly insisted upon 
in the case of the nurse whose office it is to be 
constantly about the patient. 

Prolonged rest in bed after childbirth is very 
desirable, and nine days is the traditional time 
allotted for recuperation before getting up. This 
period is by some shortened without harm, but it 



PREGNANCY. 101 

is advantageously extended to three weeks in 
many cases. Diirino- this time she must not lie 
persistently on the back, but must vary the posi- 
tion, and may be propped up to a semi-sitting 
position or lifted to a lounge or another bed. 
Restoration to ordinary health is usually regarded 
as requiring about six weeks, and, if she does not 
nurse the child, menstruation will return after 
about this length of time. Meanwhile she will 
lose weight, but will subsequently regain it. 

For two or three days after delivery there is 
little appetite for food, but much thirst. Plain 
water, cool but not iced, may be freely given, and 
such food as is wanted or required. Still, it is 
better to restrict the diet to the simplest articles 
of food until the usual duties about the house are 
resumed. 

The urine will be increased in quantity on 
the first day, and the bladder must be emptied 
within ten hours. During the lying-in, this oper- 
ation must be done while in a sitting posture to 
facilitate the discharge of accumulations from the 
womb. If the water cannot be passed, place 
cloths wrung out from hot water over and about 



102 THE DAUGHTER. 

the exit from the bladder. If this fails to evacu- 
ate the bladder, a catheter must be used, which, 
in the first instance, should be done by the phy- 
sician or a skilled nurse. 

The nervous system demands rest and re- 
quires sleep, to which the patient is usually in- 
clined. The bowels often are not voluntarily 
opened for four or five days, and must be moved 
by a mild enema. It is no unusual thing for 
the hair to fall out quite freely after labor, and, 
in spite of the multiplicity of details which claim 
attention during the lying-in, it is well to re- 
member to give the hair and scalp their usual 
daily treatment with brush and comb. 

The discharge which escapes from the womb 
after delivery continues for two or three weeks. 
It varies in character, at first being almost pure 
blood ; by the third or fourth day it is watery 
and reddish; and by the seventh or eighth day is 
pale and greenish in appearance. A return to, 
or a continuance of, the red color after the fourth 
or fifth day, is a matter which should receive 
attention. The discharge lessens in quantity from 
day to day, and gradually, in about three weeks, 



INTEKKUPTED PKEGNANCY. 103 

disappears. If it at any time has an offensive 
odor, it must be taken as a note of warning that 
strict cleanUness has not been accomplished, and 
the physician's attention must be promptly called 
to the fact, as grave troubles may follow if the 
condition is not counteracted. 

The expectant mother should maintain calm- 
ness of mind and courage, and not be over- 
solicitous about herself, knowing that nature is 
but working out in the usual mode that mystery 
of a new creation. Her experience is not'unique ; 
no unheard of thing is happening, and with ordi- 
nary care all goes well, and the joy of maternity 
is added, without w^hich woman's life is never 
completely rounded out. 



-During pregnancy there is always a 



liability that the progress of gestation may be 
interrupted or abruptly brought to a close before 
the child is sufficiently developed to live apart 
from the mother. A miscarriage is not a matter 
of indifference to her health, but calls for prompt 
care and intelligent attention. The first symptom 



104 THE DAUGHTEK. 

is usually a haemorrhage from the womb, of vary- 
ing quantity, often very slight. It may continue 
for a few hours or for days, and is accompanied, 
or soon followed, by pains in the abdomen, which 
come with regular intermissions. 

The patient should go at once to bed and 
remain in the recumbent posture, free from all 
excitement of mind and body, use light diet, and 
avoid stimulants. The drink taken should be 
cold rather than warm or hot, and any tendency 
to either constipation or diarrhoea is to be com- 
bated. The attendance of a physician should 
be secured. The haemorrhage must be controlled 
and overcome, and, if it be a threatened miscar- 
riage, rest, time, and judicious medical aid will 
probably accomplish this important aim and may 
happily avert the event. If, however, it has gone 
too far and cannot be avoided, the skill of the 
treatment will be directed toward making it 
complete and to place the patient in the most 
favorable circumstances for recovery. Even when 
there are no complications, as long a time for 
recuperation before getting up should be allowed 
as after a dehvery at full term. 



INTERKUPTED PREGNANCY. 105 

This mishap more often occurs about the third 
month of pregnancy than at any other time. 
The cause may be on the part of the child or of 
the mother. A depressed condition of health of 
the latter, a nervous shock, too violent exercise, a 
sudden jar, and certain diseases are some of the 
many causes which operate to bring it about. A 
habit of body of this kind is sometimes estab- 
lished ; hence, if a miscarriage has ever occurred, 
it will be prudent to take extra precautions as 
the same stage approaches in subsequent preg- 
nancies, in order to avoid a recurrence of the 
disaster. 

Habitual miscarriages are often due to a dis- 
coverable cause, and if this is removed nature 
will probably proceed normally with her work. 
Statistics show that only twelve women in every 
one hundred are able to avoid miscarriages at 
some time during married life. An occasional 
failure of this kind, if it be met by appropriate 
care at the time and during subsequent recovery, 
does not necessarily have the effect to perma- 
nently impair the health, any more than the 
vitality of a fruit-tree is affected by the prema- 



106 THE DAUGHTEE. 

ture loss of some of its fruit by the violence of a 
storm or by any other untoward accident. 



A CHILD may sometimes be seized with 

an attack of difficult urination. It occasions much 
pain and distress in the lower part of the abdo- 
men in the region of the bladder, and is accom- 
panied with an urgent and frequent desire to pass 
water, but with inability to do so. It does not 
necessarily call for doses of medicine. It proba- 
bly is a local and spasmodic trouble, and will 
often be relieved by hot bathing of the parts and 
sitting for a while on the vessel, which should 
contain hot water, from which the vapor rises 
against the person ; or if the child is made to sit 
in a hot bath the act of micturition can be 
accomplished. 

This trouble is not to be confounded with a 
condition of complete or partial suppression of 
the urine wherein the fault lies with the kidneys, 
which, on account of a cold from exposure, or 
dampness, or other cause, are impeded in their 
work of secreting the urine. In this case there 



INCONTINENCE OF URINE. 107 

is usually a feverish condition, and the pain will 
be felt in the back above the hips. Hot applica- 
tions to tliis region and frequent warm drinks of 
simple fluids, such as milk, either plain or diluted 
with water, are often effective. 

If relief from either of the above conditions is 
not obtained in a few hours by the simple means 
suggested, the trouble is such as calls for more 
skillful attention, and good medical advice should 
be sought at once. 

A more common and more troublesome diffi- 
culty with the child is a habit of involuntarily 
passing the water or an inability to hold it a 
reasonable time. The bladder may be evacuated 
unconsciously during sleep. This weakness is 
usually a sign of disease, and the child should 
never be punished for it. It may be a habit of 
early infancy which has never been corrected, or 
it may arise from deficient nerve-power of a 
particular kind. The act is often the result of 
dreams. It always indicates that the habit of 
self-control in this direction has not been learned 
and is not exercised. An oversensitiveness of 
the parts is found occasionally to produce this 



108 THE DAUGHTER. 

unfortunate condition, in which case chafing, 
the rubbing of ill-fitting clothing, and the want 
of proper cleanliness are causes of irritation. 
Frequent cold bathing by dashing the water 
tends to allay the sensitiveness. If thread- 
worms or other parasites in the bowels are the 
irritating cause, their removal must be effected. 

To overcome such an unfortunate habit is no 
easy task, and often calls for a great deal of pa- 
tience and persistent attention on the part of the 
care-taker. The general habits of the child must 
have a careful supervision. Less fluid must be 
allowed to be taken into the stomach during the 
after part of the day, and none at all in the even- 
ing. The bladder should be emptied as a last 
act before going to sleep, and the child must be 
aroused once or oftener during the night and be 
compelled to urinate. Such a course rigorously 
pursued in a gentle but firm manner, and con- 
tinued for a sufficiently long time, will make an 
impression and form the habit of heeding and 
properly responding to the calls of nature in this 
respect. If more seems to be required, and if 
the system needs the aid of tonic medicine, an 



CAEE OF THE TEETH. 109 

experienced medical man should be consulted, so 
that the most suitable treatment shall be applied 
to each individual case. 



■The teeth, if kept thoroughly clean, as 



a rule, will remain sound. Decay is communi- 
cated from particles of food which remain after 
eating and become lodged between and about 
them. Owino^ to the warmth and moisture of 
the mouth these particles become decomposed. 
That form of dyspepsia which gives a sour taste 
in the mouth also favors decay, as does the 
formation of tartar upon the teeth. Hence the 
importance of cleanliness. Children should be 
early taught to rinse the mouth after meals and 
before retiring at night. The older children and 
adults will find it desirable to use a tooth-brush, 
which, however, need not be very stiff, and is 
better if not too large. The occasional use of 
a good soap or a well-made tooth-powder upon 
the brush helps to preserve the teeth. 

Particles of food caught between adjoining 
teeth may be dislodged by passing between them 



110 THE DAUGHTEE. 

a silk thread or a fine rubber band. Tartar 
can be removed with a spHnter of soft wood, 
like a match-stick. A quill tooth-pick is a valu- 
able implement for daily use. Any other re- 
sources may be adopted, but the object to be 
accomplished is perfect cleanliness of the whole 
mouth. 

Good teeth are essential to perfect masti- 
cation, and upon that depends, very largely, good 
digestion and the general health. At the first 
appearance of decay, go at once to an intelligent 
dentist to have the defective part removed and 
the cavity filled, so that the tooth will not be lost, 
for it is a good friend, and will serve its purpose 
better than any substitute. This applies equally 
well to the first teeth of young children, in whom 
early decay causes much sufiering from toothache. 



-The ears must be kept clean, but nothing 



should be used for the purpose sharper than the 
finger, covered with a wet end of a towel. After 
washing, all the parts which can be reached 
should be made quite dry by a soft towel over the 



CAEE OF THE EYES. Ill 

■finger. Picking tlie ear with a pin or any other 
instrument, and forcing the end of a toAvel or a 
piece of sponge into the orifice of the organ, are 
very dangerous and unnecessary practices, and 
may occasion much harm. Where there has heen 
earache, accompanied with discharges, syringing 
may be sometimes necessary; but it had better 
be done by an experienced person, and with the 
utmost care and gentleness. The organ of liear- 
ing is an extremely delicate structure, imbedded 
for protection in a solid-bone covering, and its 
disorders are such as often baffle the best skill. 



-The eyes of the child are sometimes 



injured if the habit is acquired of holding objects 
too close for easy vision. In reading, the light 
should fall upon the printed page from behind 
and across the shoulder. A frequent cause of 
squinting is a mode of arranging the front hair 
so that it attracts the siglit of the wearer. The 
hair should be short in front during childhood, at 
least, and at all times brushed out of eye-range. 
Defective vision, producing a strain, is a common 
cause of headache, otherwise unaccountable, and 



112 THE DAUGHTEK. 

is remedied by adopting the use of glasses selected 
only after a careful examination and test by a 
surgeon experienced in treating the eye. The 
close use of the eyes must be discontinued at once 
if they become weary, or begin to smart, or if 
vision becomes indistinct. They are rested by 
looking at distant objects, twenty feet or more 
away. Do not persist in using them if thereby 
pain or discomfort is caused, as it will aggravate 
the defect, and it is far wiser to use glasses accu- 
rately suited to correct alike the defect and the 
discomfort. 

Slight inflammations of the eyes, such as 
redness and burning, are sometimes relieved by 
freely bathing them in hot water, for four or five 
minutes at a time, as often as once in four or five 
hours. Before going to bed, or when they will not 
be exposed to draughts or to cold outside air, is 
a suitable time to apply this treatment. Resting 
them from all use is also helpful. If one eye is 
inflamed, carefully guard the other from contact 
with any of the watery or other matter coming 
from the inflamed organ, which is readily con- 
veyed on the hand, or on a towel, or otherwise. 



CAKE OF THE HAIK. 113 

Weak eyes and impaired vision may result 
from a general debility of the system, in which 
case a careful attention to all the rules of health 
and a tonic treatment will do more than local 
applications. If the eyes are sore and liable to 
inflame, do not commit the folly of living in a 
dark room with a bandage on them to keep out 
lio'ht and air and to confine the heat. Hefrain 
from using them, but live much out-of-doors, 
shading them if necessary. In the case of a child, 
let it run and play about all day in fine weather, 
shaded by a broad-brimmed hat from a glare of 
light. Of course, local treatment, suited to the 
particular case, is often desirable to abate discom- 
fort and to aid in restoring health. 

The hair will be more visforous and 



better preserved if the scalp is kept scrupulously 
clean, and this is most suitably done by thorough 
daily brushing and combing than by occasional 
scourings. The wet shampoo is of very doubtful 
utility, except in cases where there are accumula- 
tions of dirt in the hair and upon the scalp which 
cannot otherwise be removed, and in very many 



114 THE DAUGHTER. 

cases its constant use undoubtedly does liarm, as 
the hair will not well stand such rough handling. 
A healthy head of good hair will not be improved 
by applications of any kind other than a good 
comb, not too sharp at the points, and a stiff brush. 
Twice a day at least these should be well used to 
free the hair from dust. In this way it will be 
invigorated and grow full and glossy, preserving 
its natural moisture and softness. The frequent 
use of strong soaps or borax or alcohol, or the 
various washes which usually have these as their 
chief ingredients, is contrary to common sense 
and is hurtful to the hair. They dissolve out the 
appropriate oily secretion which nature supplies, 
and which cannot be adequately replaced by ap- 
plications of grease or hair-oil. The latter prac- 
tically befoul the head. If the hair and scalp 
require cleaning otherwise than in the manner 
indicated, it may occasionally be done gently by 
the hands with soft water, or in the bath, but no 
other applications are needed, as the water is 
sufficient to dissolve and take away any excess 
of the natural secretions. If there is disease of 
the hair or scalp other treatment will be required, 



CARE OF THE HAIR. 115 

but the diseases and their treatment cannot be 
indicatad here. Of course, one whose occupa- 
tion is amid dust and dirt which befoul the hair 
must resort, in the interests of cleanhness, to fre- 
quent washings ; but strong soaps and strong 
alcoholic solutions are injurious to the hair and 
usually wholly unnecessary, while in special cases 
mild solutions may be used. 

Baldness is the result of previous neglect of 
the proper care of the hair and scalp, but is 
more commonly dependent upon a loss of vitality 
in the roots of the hair, which in some cases is 
due to a constitutional weakness that might have 
been lessened by suitable treatment resorted to 
in time. It is more prevalent among men than 
women, doubtless because the close-fitting hats 
of the former, by retaining the heat and secre- 
tions of the head, increase the liability to it. If 
the roots have died they cannot be revived, but 
if their vigor is impaired there is a chance that 
it may be restored and a healthy function re- 
established. 



116 THE DAUGHTEE. 

A GREAT many sore throats are directly 

due to tlie habit of breathing through the mouth. 
Fairly intelligent people are often seen who, wide 
awake, have the mouth constantly open for breath- 
ing purposes, the appearance very much suggest- 
ing a fly-trap. But the habit is probably more 
commonly practiced during sleep. Children 
should be taught that the nose is for breathing 
and smelling, and the mouth is for talking and 
eating, and it should be constantly enjoined upon 
them to sleep with the mouth closed, until to do 
so becomes a habit. In sleeping, older persons 
will do well to so adjust the head that the lower 
jaw cannot drop, and thus insure that the mouth 
will remain closed. If breathing cannot be com- 
fortably performed through the nose it is evidence 
of some defect in the interior of that organ, which 
should be remedied by a practical physician. 
For a simple sore throat a gargle of quite hot 
water, frequently repeated, often gives great re- 
lief; or, steam from a vessel of hot water may be 
inhaled, and in both methods the treatment may 
be made more effective if to the water is added a 
little salt, or a little bicarbonate of soda, or a little 



SPKAINS. 117 

strong cider-vinegar. The heat is a good appU- 
cation, and also the gargling serves to remove 
the exudations from the mucous membranes of 
the throat so apt to be present when it is sore and 
inflamed. Continued sore throat is quite apt to 
extend to the ears, and may cause impaired hear- 
ing or total deafness. 

A FRESH sprain is best treated by sub- 



merging the part in quite hot water until the 
acute pain ceases ; then apply a bandage smoothly 
and so as to give an even pressure. If it be on 
a limb the bandage must begin at the extremity 
and extend up, covering the seat of the sprain ; 
otherwise the pressure will interfere with the free 
circulation of the blood in the limb. 

An old sprain is well treated by douching the 
part twice a day with alternate streams of hot 
and of cold water, immediately following each 
other, — a half-dozen applications of each, — and 
by occasionally rubbing it with a stimulating 
liniment. 



118 THE DAUGHTEB. 

When a child is stung by an insect, an 

immediate local application of castor-oil is said 
to give relief from the pain at once. The bee 
usually leaves its sting in the flesh, in which case 
it should be extracted. This can readily be done 
by pressing about it a small tube like the barrel 
of an ordinary watch-key, which causes the sting 
to protrude sufliciently to be seized and removed. 
As a rule, bites and stings of insects are soothed 
by alkaline applications, as of solutions of the 
salts of soda and potash or ammonia, or alcohol, 
which neutralize the poison ; and, if there be 
much inflammation, an application of lead-water 
and laudanum is good. A plaster of soft earth 
or clay is a soothing application, which is avail- 
able in the fields and where drugs cannot be 
obtained. 

Burns are well treated by an application of 
linseed-oil and lime-water mixed in equal parts, 
and olive-oil or unsalted lard may be substituted 
for the linseed-oil ; or, apply white lead and oil 
mixed into a soft paste ; or, cover the part thickly 
with flour or powdered starch from a dredging- 
box; or, apply lead- water, or lanolin, or a solu- 



COMFORT OF THE FEET. 119 

tion of an ounce of tannin to a pint of water. 
The application must be so thorough as to ex- 
clude the air, and it is well to bind on top some 
carded cotton smeared with some of the same 
material applied to the burn. 

The pain of bumps and bruises will be al- 
layed by the immediate application of hot water, 
or tincture of arnica, or a solution of a teaspoon- 
ful each of muriate of ammonia and common 
salt in 2 tablespoonfuls of alcohol and 4 of water. 
After the first sharp pain is past, an application 
of butter, kept upon the spot for a few hours, 
will often prevent it from becoming black and 
blue. 

Greater comfort is obtained for the feet 



by freeing them each night from the results of 
perspiration during the day. If they are tender, 
this is best and quickest done by cleansing with 
a wet towel, and without soap, rather than by 
soaking them in water, which will render them 
more tender. Each morning a fresh pair of 
stockings and a fresh pair of shoes should be 
put on ; that is, shoes or stockings should not be 



120 THE DAUGHTER. 

worn two days in succession, but should be given 
a day between to air and dry. In tbe evening, 
whether one remains at home or goes abroad, 
let a change be made for a dry pair of shoes, 
rather than wear the same which have been in 
use all day. It will be well to have several pairs 
of shoes in wear at once, for few things add 
more to personal comfort than attention to the 
needs of the feet, of which not the least are well- 
made and easy-fitting shoes of material suitable 
to the weather and the season of the vear. 



-By the exhalation of the breath and by 



the perspiration is carried away waste matter no 
longer needed, and which is full of harm to the 
system if retained. This is an indication for 
ventilation of rooms which have been occupied 
and for strict bodily cleanliness. The pores of 
the skin must be kept open to favor the elimina- 
tion, and the surface of the body must be freed 
from its results by washings with soap and water. 
A healthy skin will rarely require anything more, 
except it be the additional application of a good 
flesh-brush,' or the vigorous use of a coarse towel 



FUNCTION OF THE KIDNEYS. 121 

or mittens during the progTess of the bath. A 
person with a clean skin protected by suitable 
clothing, and whose bodily functions are regular, 
rarely catches cold. 



The office of the kidneys is to eliminate 

waste matter from the system. Our bodies are 
furnaces kept aglow by the air and the food we 
take into them. What is assimilated by diges- 
tion is converted into vital energy and the new 
material to replace that which is worn out. This 
last, being of no further use, is taken up by the 
kidi;ieys from the blood and passed out as urine 
from the bladder. In one leading an active life 
there results a larger waste of tissue than when 
the occupations are freer from exertion. It is 
necessary that a sufficiency of water be taken 
into the system to facilitate the carrying off of 
this waste, as its retention leads to many dis- 
orders. Pure water is the best drink for this 
purpose, and its eifects will be more beneficial 
taken a couple of hours after meals rather than 
copiously with the food. Weak tea and coffee 
are next in value to water. The plant principles 



122 THE DAUGHTEK. 

wliich they contain aid in promoting a free elimi- 
nation, that of the former acting especially on 
the skin and that of the latter upon the kidneys. 
Beer and spirituous drinks all contain ingredients 
injurious to the delicate structure of the kidneys, 
if taken in excess, which so often follows the 
habit of theh daily use. Fresh milk, alone or 
diluted with water, has a tendency to allay in- 
flammatory conditions of the urinary organs. 
Excessive quantities of drink of any land are 
hurtful, though pure water may be taken when- 
ever there is a desire for it, and often very freely 
with benefit. The sense of thirst, when not per- 
verted by the strong-drink habit, is a good guide 
in determining the proper quantity of liquid re- 
quired. To disregard the feeling of thirst may 
also become a habit, in which case enough water 
will not be taken to meet the needs of the sys- 
tem. 

Good health requires that free excretions by 
the kidneys be maintained. An adult usually 
voids about three pints of urine during every 
twenty-four hours ; but this amount will vary, 
being influenced by such' considerations as the 



FUNCTION OF THE KIDNEYS. 123 

quantity of liquid imbibed, the amount of bodily 
exercise, and the temperature and humidity of 
the atmosphere. In health it is usually of a light 
straw color, and clear in appearance, and, after 
standing in a vessel a few hours, shows no froth 
on the top nor sediment at the bottom. 'Many 
temporary conditions of the system will vary 
these appearances, but usually they are restored 
in a short time. 

One should feel called upon to empty the 
bladder only at intervals of several hours. If 
no excess of liquid has been taken in the latter 
portion of the day, the young past infancy are 
usually not disturbed at night. Toward middle 
life it is not uncommon to rise once during the 
night. 

Frequent desire to urinate, and too copious, 
and deficient quantities of urine indicate derange- 
ments requiring attention. Any departure from 
what is indicated here as the rule need not be 
taken as cause for alarm, but is good reason, if 
pronounced and long-continued, for seeking 
advice from a competent physician. 



124 THE DAUGHTEE. 

From the bowels is ejected from the 

system chiefly that part of the food taken which 
is not necessary for the nutrition of the body. 
If retained too long it becomes corrupt, and 
acts as a poisonous agent ; hence, every call of 
nature in this direction must be promptly com- 
plied with. The indications are that it is better 
that the bowels should be evacuated at least once 
in every twenty-four hours, and health and com- 
fort, both of mind and body, depend very much 
upon the exercise of this function. Not to dwell 
too explicitly upon the subject, it may be sufli- 
cient to suggest to the thoughtful that the ex- 
crement so off'ensive is none the less so before 
its discharge, and for obvious reasons its retention 
must be hurtful to health. 

Attention to the bowels should become a life- 
long habit, which is more easily exercised by the 
observance of regularity as to a certain hour of 
the day. Fix upon such a time as will most con- 
veniently suit the daily duties, and will not be 
interfered with, and then allow nothing to pre- 
vent this necessary attention to personal health 
and comfort, both of the body and of the mind. 



FUNCTION OF THE BOWELS. 125 

There is no question that sickness is often the 
result of self-poisoning from failure to properly 
evacuate the bowels, and constipation is most 
often caused by a habit of carelessness and 
neglect of nature's requirements in this respect. 
Children should early be taught the importance 
of the subject. 

Great attention to regularity of habits, diet, 
and exercise are necessary to overcome con- 
stipation. An occasional purgative or laxative 
may be needed, but it should be seldom used and 
never be depended upon as a habit. Vegetables 
and fruits have a more laxative tendency than 
meats. An occasional attack of constipation in 
hearty eaters will sometimes be overcome by 
abstaining from all solid food for a day, during 
which plenty of plain water and free exercise are 
taken. Delicate people are sometimes constipated 
from simple debility of the system. They need 
tonic treatment and a general building up. 

Diarrhoea indicates a disturbed condition of 
the bowels which calls for rest. iVbstain from 
solid food and from exertion, and if there is un- 
digested food which causes the trouble it must 



126 THE DAUGHTEE. 

be voided from the system. Afterward do not 
tax the digestion until complete recuperation has 
taken place. If the trouble continues, seek good 
medical advice. 



■The process of digestion is exceedingly 



complicated, and it would be out of place to de- 
scribe it in detail, in a work of this kind; but it 
is proper that attention be called to various con- 
siderations in regard to it, which have important 
bearings upon the general health. The food 
should be of wholesome and digestible kind, and 
properly prepared. Those of rugged health, who 
live much in the open air and are actively em- 
ployed, will commonly have stronger digestion, 
and require heartier food and more of it, than 
the more delicate who lead in-door and inactive 
lives. An infant's powers of digestion are as 
much weaker than those of a strong man as its 
arm is weaker than his ; hence, the propriety of 
giving special food of simple and nutritious kind 
to the children, and debarring them often from 
dishes served at a meal, of which tlieir elders 
may partake with impunity. Doubtless many 



DIGESTION. 127 

cases of dyspepsia which persist throughout Hfe 
have their origin in the injudicious indulgences 
of children who, taking their meals at the family 
table, are allowed to eat of improper food, and, 
indeed, of everything which tempts their fancy. 

Even after the best arts of cookery have been 
used in its preparation, the food is still unsuitable 
for the stomach until further prepared, by thor- 
ough mastication, which divides it into smaller 
particles and mixes it wdth the saliva, thus favor- 
ing: the chemical chancres which constitute the 
subsequent processes of digestion and nutrition. 
The importance of chewing the food thoroughly 
should not be overlooked, and should be incul- 
cated upon the young until it becomes a habit 
with them. 

After the food has been swallowed we have 
little further control over it, digestion, like the 
beating of the heart and breathing, being an in- 
voluntary process, and should go on unconsciously 
and without producing discomfort. It has been 
said that one in good health ought to be unaware 
of the existence of his stomach. This may be an 
ideal view, but it is certain that the sufferings of 



128 THE DAUGHTEK. 

the dyspeptic will be much lessened, if not entirely 
avoided, if proper regard is paid to the kind and 
quality of the food taken, its right preparation 
for the table, and its proper preparation for the 
stomach by mastication. 

It is not best to eat a hearty meal when ex- 
cessively weary, as the digestive powers partake 
of the general exhaustion of the system, and may 
then be overtaxed. A wise course would be to 
take a light luncheon and a short rest before the 
meal. There is probably nothing which will more 
quickly relieve from the feeling of extreme weari- 
ness and prepare the stomach for food than a 
glass of hot milk, taken slowly. Some, however, 
think they cannot take milk, or they have an 
aversion to it, and for them a cup of hot tea, or of 
hot chocolate, may answer as well. 

Immediately after a hearty meal it is well to 
rest, and, in the case of invalids, a nap will be 
found very beneficial. Blood is furnished in extra 
supply to any part of the system where work is 
to be done, and after a meal the digestive organs 
receive it; and they will lack power, and their 
functions be interfered with, if it is diverted to 



PREPARATION OF FOOD. 129 

other parts by exercise either of mind or body. 
From an hour and a half to three hours after a 
meal, gentle bodily exercise is useful to promote 
the absorption of the food into the system and 
its assimilation. 

If the stomach be overtaxed, it may, indeed, 
recover after a time, but frequent repetitions of 
the offense will permanently impair its functions, 
imbitter life with the sufferings of indigestion, 
make one physically an invalid, and cast the gloom 
of dyspepsia over his mind. 

The use of the frying-pan in the prepa- 
ration of food for the table is a barbarism often 
described as a frequent cause of dyspepsia. Food 
prepared in it is apt to become a pasty mass, satu- 
rated with melted fat, and is quite suited to 
destroy the best digestion. If it ever can be 
wholesome, it is only when prepared over a very 
hot fire, and so quickly that the fat does not 
penetrate. A gridiron answers the purpose much 
better, and by it food is prepared in more digestible 
form. 



130 THE DAUGHTEK. 

Although it evidently is possible for 



people to live in very filthy surroundings, yet 
cleanliness is one of the important conditions of 
good health. It is also a good moral agency. 
One habitually clean in his person and surround- 
ings has grounds for self-respect and is more 
respected by others. Yet people with otherwise 
fairly correct ideas are met upon the streets and 
in assemblies, at private parties and at church, in 
public conveyances and in crowded rooms, and 
they sleep, and eat, and attend at their places of 
business with unwashed bodies, clothed in un- 
washed garments, and they never seem to com- 
prehend that, in a sanitary sense, they are as 
unclean as the idiot who knows not enough to 
attend the calls of nature, and are only less offen- 
sive to refined senses. In our favored land water 
is abundant and cheap, and soap costs but little 
more, and a frequent use of a combination of the 
two upon the person and general surroundings 
adds greatly to health, comfort, moral tone, and 
civilization. 



THE SKIX AND BATHING. 131 

The skin is the most extensive organ of 

the hody, and has various functions which, main- 
tained in vigorous activity, will greatly promote 
the general good health. The matter of first 
importance is scrupulous cleanliness, w^hich is 
best accomplished by hot-water baths, accompa- 
nied by thorough rubbing and the free use of 
good soap. The chief utility of the Turkish, 
steam, hot-air baths, and other intricate modes 
of bathing, consists simply in their cleansing 
qualities. Cold plunge-baths and cold shower- 
baths should be avoided by the delicate and the 
aged. Cold sponge-baths, when quickly taken, 
followed by vigorous friction until a glow^ is pro- 
duced, have an invigorating effect upon the skin. 
The shock of a cold sponge is too much for some, 
even of robust health, and such should apply the 
cold water with the hands instead of by a sponge 
or towel. The cold bath should never be pro- 
longed, and ought to be avoided altogether if not 
followed by a grateful reactionary glow^, and for 
purposes of cleanliness it does not replace the 
occasional hot bath. 



wm 



132 THE DAUGHTER. 

It is a matter of fact, frequently not consid- 
ered, that elderly and corpulent persons are un- 
able to bathe themselves, and, in consequence, 
may suffer from skin diseases and discomforts 
which are avoided if strict cleanliness is effected. 
This may happen even amid affluent circum- 
stances and otherwise hygienic surroundings. 
The pores of the skin must be kept open for the 
proper relief of the system, and the skin should 
be protected from the frequent atmospheric 
changes. The latter is best accomplished by 
the use of garments of wool, especially those 
worn next to the person, which, acting as a 
non-conductor of heat, help to maintain an equi- 
table temperature of the body, and also, being 
porous, do not confine the perspiration. In a 
variable chmate it is advisable to wear next the 
person, at all seasons, woolen clothing, which 
should be lighter in weight in warm weather and 
heavier, or else doubled in thickness, in cold. It 
also is advantageous to completely change the 
clothing at night, so that during sleep entirely 
different garments replace those used during the 
day. It certainly is more conducive to health 



THE SKIN AND BATHING. 133 

and comfort to sleep in wool than in cotton or 
linen. Aged and delicate persons who find it 
difficult to keep comfortably warm at night should 
use woolen sheets and blankets in preference to 
covers of other materials, and employ additional 
means, if necessary, to keep the feet warm. 

The back of the neck and about the ankles 
are localities which are especially sensitive to 
draughts of air and dampness. Exposure to 
damp, wet feet, and going from an overheated or 
crowded room into the cold air, are common 
causes of catcliing cold. The blood in the numer- 
ous small vessels of the skin becomes chilled and 
undergoes a change producing a well-known 
condition of fever and other discomforts, popu- 
larly called a cold. There is no quick and certain 
cure for a cold, but its force and duration may be 
much diminished if the patient will go at once to 
bed for twenty-four hours, eating little and drink- 
ing water freely, and use such measures as wiR 
induce a very free perspiration. One of the effects 
of a cold will often be to render the bowels inact- 
ive, in which case a laxative medicine will dimin- 
ish the discomfort and hasten a return to health. 



134 THE DAUGHTER. 



-After an attack of sickness do not be in 



too great haste to resume the usual occupations. 
The weakened system will recuperate more 
quickly with rest than with activity. Make 
haste slowly, and so secure a firmer basis for 
future health and lessen the tendency toward a 
relapse. At all times those of nervous tempera- 
ments should allow themselves time to rest. Much 
can be said in favor of gymnastic exercise, which 
is good if not carried to excess, but it is very 
often inappropriate for those whose employment 
is active. Comparatively little is written about 
the value of rest and repose, both of mind and 
body, to those whose daily occupations keep them 
continually more or less on the drive. 

The habit of daily using stimulants is 



not only useless and foolish, but is unphilosophi- 
cal and hurtful. A glass of brandy will increase 
the number of heart-beats ten or twenty in each 
minute during the time its effects continue ; con- 
sequently the one who lives under this constant 
stimulation, literally lives faster than nature re- 
quires. Going faster, of course, he gets to the 



GYMNASTICS. 135 

end sooner. The vital energy is more quickly 
spent and earlier exhausted. The true stimulants 
in health are wholesome food, suitably prepared 
and assimilated by a good digestion. Activity 
of mind and body in the pursuit of a worthy 
object in life, and an enthusiastic ambition to 
attain it, are also true stimulants of great value. 



-When ordinary daily occupations do not 



require sufficient bodily exercise, gymnastics are 
very useful and sometimes necessary to secure 
proper development. Motion is not only one of 
the inseparable qualities of life, but there can be 
no healthy growth and development without it. 
A mistake often made in regard to gymnastic 
exercises is, carrying them to excess in an attempt 
to attain great strength of limb, while neglecting 
other parts equally important. The correct way 
is, to employ them to attain a symmetrical devel- 
opment of the whole frame, and" this is more 
certainly and more pleasantly obtained by appro- 
priate and gentle motions than by violent strain- 
ing efforts which task the strength. 



136 THE DAUGHTEE. 

The dress at all times should be so made as 
not to impede free movements. If the waist is 
compressed there is neither grace of motion nor 
beauty of form, and there will be induced grave 
disorders of digestion and diseases of internal 
organs which bring about life-long invalidism 
and often incurable pain and suffering. If the 
feet are cramped by ill-fitting shoes, walking, the 
most natural and beneficial of all exercises, is 
turned into a painful undertaking, and will be 
soon abandoned, to the detriment of health. 

In walking the toes should be turned out 
moderately, — not at a great angle ; the shoulders 
thrown slightly back and square, with the chest 
expanded in front ; the head held back, balanced 
but not reined in ; the chin pointing neither up 
nor down, but in a horizontal line ; the arms 
hanging free and unrestrained by the sides. 
When all the muscles of the body are symmetri- 
cally developed, this position is easily maintained 
without constraint ; the back is not made more 
hollow nor the abdomen more prominent than 
nature designs; and, as the spine, doing its 
proper office, directly sustains the weight with 



GYMNASTICS. 137 

least effort, locomotion is free and graceful, and 
performed with the least fatigue. The position 
will soon be learned if one practices, as a very 
useful and mild gymnastic exercise, carrying a 
weight, as a large book, balanced on the head 
in walking about the house and up and down 
stairs, for ten minutes at a time, once or twice 
daily. 

Manuals of Hght gymnastics for home prac- 
tice are accessible to all who desire them, and are 
to be recommended ; but it requires only a little 
ingenuity to devise motions which will bring into 
play all the muscles in turn, with or without 
dumb-bells and other similar instruments for ex- 
ercise. A few minutes devoted to the practice of 
such motions after rising in the morning, and 
again before retiring to bed at night, will in most 
cases answer all requirements, and, if pursued as 
a daily habit, wiU benefit the general health and 
promote a uniform growth and development of 
the whole body. 

The systematic use of gymnastic exercises is 
of great value, especially when combined with 
the general means of health, in overcoming 



138 THE DAUGHTEE. 

in the young deformities resulting from special 
muscular Aveaknesses. A part is made strong 
and healthy by exercising it in the manner na- 
ture designs it to be used ; hence, intelligent care 
is needed to adapt the appropriate exercise to 
each muscle and group of muscles, and it must 
be daily resorted to with patience and perse- 
verance. 

The nutrition of all parts of the body is 
drawn from the blood, and the philosophy of 
exercise is, that the increased heart's action aug- 
ments the local blood-supply and quickens all 
the functions. The secretions and excretions 
are increased; the respiration, also, is made 
more vigorous, so that the blood takes up, in 
the lungs, more oxygen to carry on the vital 
processes throughout the system. Both body 
and mind feel the glow of health, and re- 
freshing and tranquil sleep is induced, which 
imparts vigor and tone to the nerves. If the 
exercise be too violent, and is persisted in, there 
will be a local congestion at the seat of strain 
and an overnutrition, which will result in inflam- 
mation and a distorted overgrowth or deformity. 



CLOSING KEMARKS. 139 

The risks of violent exercises to those of delicate 
constitutions, or of special inherited weaknesses, 
are too great to be thoughtlessly assumed. 



The care of the body, though calling for 

constant attention, must not be allowed to absorb 
all of one's time, nor be considered as the whole 
object of living. Those who make it such are 
the most uninteresting of mortals, and barely 
escape our contempt. A fair comprehension of 
its requirements ought to lead to the formation 
of daily habits that will conduce to health, and 
whose observance, as the routine of life, will not 
be burdensome, but will become a sort of second 
nature. 

In and through the body, and simultaneously 
with its growth, that higher self — the intellectual 
and the spiritual — manifests itself, develops and 
receives its training. It, too, must have constant 
attention from those who have the care of the 
young; for, a symmetrical development of the 
whole being demands an education of all the 
parts. Ideal manhood includes not only excel- 



140 THE DAUGHTEE. 

lence in body and health, but mental abiUty and 
intelligence, and cultivated spiritual perception as 
well. 

The design of these suggestions is, to offer 
some assistance to young mothers and others 
who have the care of children. The discon- 
nected paragraphs must not be taken as intended 
to cover the whole subject, but only as offering 
hints upon some of the more obvious points of 
interest. If in any way they aid in securing for 
the rising generation better physical and social 
conditions, they will accomplish somewhat toward 
the advancement of the standards of the race. 
Besides aiding the physician in his family visits, 
the labors of the schoolmaster and of the re- 
ligious teacher will be easier and more effective, 
as the success of their efforts is much dependent 
upon good health, which indicates the nice ad- 
justment of the relations of all parts of our 
nature. 



NDEX. 



Air, fresh and vitiated, 43, 4A 
Alphabet, learning the, 49 
Atmosphere of home, 53 

Baby, its advent, 4 

its bathing. 11 

its care at^birth, 7, 13 

its care no mystery, 40 

its disposition, 39 

blue babies, 13 

chafed skin, 35 

early care of its eyes, 12 

early preparations for, 7 

food, 14, 21, 23, 26 

rocking the, 33 

size of stomach, 18 

sleep, 34 

to the breast, 22 

■n-eisfht. growth, development, 9 
Baldness, llo 
Bandage, for newborn infant, 8 

in pregnancy, 98 
Barley-water, 18 
Bathing of baby, 11, 14 

during menses, 63 
pregnancy, 98 

in general, isi 

of the elderly and corpulent, 
132 
Baths, Turkish, cold, plunge, 131 
Bowels, 124 

constipation, in infant, 32 
in pregnancy, 99 

inactive from a cold, 133 

regularity of, 125 



Bran-water, 35 
Breathing by mouth, 116 
Bumps and bruises, 119 
Burns, 118 



Character, moral, 39, 45, 53, 55, 69 
Children as companions, 94 

city and country, 54 

illegitimate, 92 
Cleanliness, importance of, 130 

during lying-in. 98 

of bedside attendants, 100 

of milk utensils, 20 

of nursinsr-bottle, 15 

of skin, 11, 35, 121, 131 
Co-education of sexes, 77 
Coffee, 121 

Cold-catching, 11, 121, 133 
Companionship of sexes, 52 

in wedlock. 80, 82, 84, 85, 91 

of mother and daughter, oo, 94 
Cord, tying the, at birth, 7 

dressing the, 8 
Crying of young infant, 9, 14 

Daughter trained in home duties, 

75, 76. 87 
Development of child, 9 

symmetrical, 135, 139 
Digestion, 126 

of child, 24, 126 
Dyspepsia, 129 

acquired in infancy, 127 

owing to frying-pan , 129 



(141) 



142 



INDEX. 



Ears, care of, 110 

Education, woman's, 2, 50, 52, 76, 87 

at school, 48 

child's earlv, 22, 39, 69, 78 

efficiency, 52, 69 

elemeutarv, same for both 
sexes," 39, 48, 50 

for housekeeping, 75, 86 

influence of example, 39, 68 

mutual for parent and child, 
6,47 
Exercise, out-door, 49 

gymnastic, 134, 135 

philosophy of, 138 
Exhalations of" lungs and skin, 120 
Eyes, care of, at birth, 12 

care of. 111 

Feet, care of, 119 
Food, infant's, 14, 22 

as a stimulant, 135 

at "vreaning, 30 

barley-water, 18 

cows' milk, 15 

feeding-bottle, 15 

for older children, 30 

lime-water, 19 

mastication, 127 

oatmeal-water, 18 

quality for digestion, 42 

rice-water, 18 
Fretting and worrying, 46 

Gymnastics, 51, 135, 137 
philosophy of, 138 



Habit, 33, 46, 53, 68, 69, 111, 124,139 
Hair, care of, 113 

during lying-in, 102 
Health in boys and girls, no differ- 
ence in, 51 
Home a social club, 85 

home-maker, 85, 91 
Housekeeping a business, 76, 86 

requires a training, 76, 87 



Illegitimate births, 92 

Imitation bv child, Si 

68 " 



40, 45, 56, 



Kidneys, 106, 121 

Knowledge safer than ignorance,71, 
72,73 

Leucorrhoea, 13, 66 
Lime-water, 16 

how to make, 19 
Love is a prize, 83 

in poetry and art, 88 

power of, 79, 81 

Manners are imitations, 39, 45, 53 
Marriage, misalliances, 48 

age for, 95 

antagonisms in, 90 

companionship in, 84, 85, 91 

compatible, 77, 81, 82 

engagements, 88 

its precedence, 90 

natural basis of, 72, 89 

right motives for, 83 

sentiment in, 89 

sterile, 94 

unhappy, 82, 90 

wedding-day, 95 
Maternity, avoided, 93 

in anticipation of, 7 
Medicines, 31 

during pregnancy, 99 
Menstruation, 57, 66 

in co-education, 77 

when absent, 61 
Milk, substitute for mothers', 15 

as a drink, 42,122 

from one cow, 21 

how to prepare for infant, 20 

mothers' first, 22 

mothers' supply, 14, 21-26 

sterilizer, 21 

sugar of, 16 

suitable for all, 42 



INDEX. 



143 



Milk the best food for infants, 14 

to keep fresh, 20 
Miscarriaire, 103 

habit^of, 105 
Mother, her opportunities, 5, 47, 75 

care of nipple of, 28 

daughter's guide, 74 

diet^for, 24 

her patience, 41 

her privilege to nurse, 27 

influence of. 39 

nursinc:, 22-27 

to discuss marriage, 73 
sexual matters, 70 

to instruct her daughter, 69, 70, 
73, 75, 87 
Mouth-breathing, 116 

Nipples, care of, 28 

artificial, 29 

during sleep, 29 

of feeding-bottle, 15 
Nurse, monthly, 100 

handling child, 9 

wet, 27 
Nursing, mothers' first, 22 

deficient supph', 25 

frequency of, 23 
Nursing-bottle, 15 

Ounce of liquid, 18 

Perfumes, 44 

Physician, if absent at birth, 7 

engaged in advance, 100 
Pregnancy, signs of, 96 

care during, 98, 100 

duration and end, 97 

interrupted, 103 

rest after, 100 

supporting-bandage in, 98 
Puberty, 51, 55, 57 
Purity, personal, 70 

Quieting the baby, 24, 29, 34 



Religion, basis of morality, 55, 72 

Reproduction, 78, 91 

Rest to reproductive system, 61 

after meals, 128 
sickness, 134 

after pregnancy, 100 

during menses, 61 
Rice-water, 18 
Rocking the baby, 33 



Scents, 43 

School, age to begin, 48 

kindergarten, 49 

large classes in, 50 

learning alphabet, 49 
Self-esteemland egotism, 47 
Sexes, barriers of separation, 52 

association in childhood, 50, 51 

dilferences in, 78 

formative age, 62 

mutual interests, 81 

their co-education, 77 
Sexual nature, 70, 75, 80, 81 
Skin, chafed, 35 

general care of, 131 

soap on hild's, 36 
Sleep of infant, 24. 34 
Soap on child's skin, 12, 36 

general use, 131 
Soothing medicines for infant to be 

avoided, 22 
Sore throats, 116 
Sprains, 117 
Sterility, 94 
Stimulants at menses, 59, 64 

their habitual use, 134 
Stings of insects, 118 
Sugar of milk, 16 



Tablespoonful, 18 

Talks, confidential, of the mother, 

70 
Tea, 121 
Teaspoonful, 18 
Teeth, child's first, 36 



144 



INDEX. 



Teeth, care of, 109 
permanent, 38 
teething, 37 

Urination, difficult, 106 
deranged, 123 
during lying-in, 101 
involuntary, 107 
quantity and appearance, 122 
suppressed, 106 

Ventilation, 120 
Vomiting, 32 

Walk, how to, 136 

infant beginning to, 10 
nurse not to walk with infant, 
33 



Warmth of infant, 13 

at menses, 64 

applications of, 64 
Washing, injudicious, 11 

by olive-oil, etc., 12 

eyes at birth, 12 

special spots, 12 
Water for drinking, 121 

to young infant, 22, 24 
Weaning, 30 
Wet-nurse, 27 
Wife a partner, 86, 91 

her influence, 82 

her satisfaction, 91 
Wineglassful, 18 
Woman, appointed vocation, 2, 79 

her round of life, 3 

special training, 1, 52, 56, 75 

the home-maker, 2, 86 
Wool clothing, 132 




L 'M 




^'^^^^ 



